


Nanny

by kittyofnight



Category: Suits (US TV)
Genre: Kid Fic, Life Reevaluation, M/M, Nanny Mike
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2019-10-20
Packaged: 2020-11-08 08:37:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 31,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20832539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittyofnight/pseuds/kittyofnight
Summary: From the kid’s high school graduation date on file, he was over thirty, not a kid.  But if he had been one of the firm’s first year associates- at twenty-five, Harvey still would have said he looked young.“I work unpredictable, long hours,” Harvey said.  “Sometimes seven days a week when I need to,”  He wouldn’t take on… extra work to avoid the girl, but it wasn’t like he had any idea what to do with her.  So it was better for both of them to hire someone quickly, and he’d be back at work in an hour.





	1. Nanny

**Author's Note:**

> The timeline might not always be clear, especially because things in Harvey’s work life aren’t the same without Mike there, and it’s really not the main focus of the story anyway.

*****Donna*****

“My boss is looking for a nanny,” was Donna’s opening line. It wasn’t a very good opening line by her standards, but Harvey had a little girl flying into LaGuardia, and the paternity test results weren’t even back yet, but Harvey said Michelle wouldn’t lie about that. Except this woman had lied about the girl’s entire _ existence _ until this point. But it didn’t do to think ill of the dead. It wouldn’t help anyone.

The first conversation with a service had given her a list of profiles to look over, mostly nice seeming and looking young women. All of them would keep this girl, Rebecca, safe, but Donna didn’t feel a click yet.

“Can you tell me a bit about the family situation? It helps to make the best match,” the woman on the other side of the phone said. She sounded young. But the last service has asked first about number and age of children and then gone right into number of hours needed and pricing. This was more promising.

“His- daughter is nine years old, and her mother recently died. She’s being moved from Chicago to New York to live with a father who never knew she existed. I’m not sure what she knew about him. Harvey- is a good man who has never interacted much with children, and frankly, neither have I. He’s devoted to his work, but he wants to do right by the girl,” Donna said, feeling out of her element. She was _ Donna _. She knew all. She should be able to find the perfect person for Harvey, and she shouldn’t have to talk to services to do it. But nannies weren’t plentiful in her handy lists of people she knew. She could more easily get confidential medical records, maybe even a kidney.

“I have the perfect person for you,” the woman told her with complete confidence. “Would your employer be bothered by a male nanny?”

“No,” Donna said with more surety than was probably warranted. Harvey would be surprised, but he would want whoever was best. “Not automatically at least.”

“His name is Mike Ross, and he is very good in situations of loss. He’s- become our go to person for most delicate situations, really. He- doesn’t mind my saying that he lost his own parents at a young age and relates well to children in similar situations. They all love him. All children do, not just ones who have experienced loss.”

“When can he start? For an interview or trial run?” Donna checked herself. She had a good feeling, but this was a little girl’s life and happiness. Good people weren’t usually just _ available _ if this guy was as good as this woman was trying to say.

“Mr. Ross is available to start immediately,” the woman said cheerfully.

“How did his last employment end?” Donna pressed. There was a story there. Donna knows these things.

“I- _ do _ have Mr. Ross’s permission to disclose that information, as much as I can. He’s a very open man. He also does a lot of one-off sitting for us, but his last full-time placement did end recently... One parent arrived home significantly intoxicated after driving themselves home, and attempted to drive the two children after that, and Mr. Ross reported the incident to the authorities. He has no tolerance for drunk driving. It was how he lost his own parents. He did make sure the children were in a safe situation first.”

“I want him,” Donna decided. “Mr. Specter will hire who I think best.”

  
  


*****Harvey*****

From the kid’s high school graduation date on file, he was over thirty, not a kid. But if he had been one of the firm’s first year associates- at twenty-five, Harvey still would have said he looked young.

“I work unpredictable, long hours,” Harvey said. “Sometimes seven days a week when I need to,” He wouldn’t take on… extra work to avoid the girl, but it wasn’t like he had any idea what to do with her. So it was better for both of them to hire someone quickly, and he’d be back at work in an hour.

“That’s fine. I completely understand devotion to your job. Mine is my life.”

That sounds good, but almost too good. “And what is your life like outside of work? Friends? Family?” he said and then almost winced. He wasn’t at his best.

“Yeah, you got the parents-are-dead memo, it’s fine, really. My grandmother died three years ago. I don’t have other family. I have friends- mostly casual ones- some from the agency. We get to know each other when covering each other’s regulars. One friend I’ve keep since high school, and check in with her somewhat regularly, though there’s some baggage there. I still see some of my grandmother’s friends, visit them in nursing homes, because no one sees them enough, and they were like my aunts. Some people in my apartment complex I’ll play video games or watch a movie with, but not that often. I’ll still see a few of my old clients’ kids on occasion.”

“And the parents don’t mind this?” Harvey asked.

“Of course,” Mike answered firmly. He didn’t sound annoyed, but Harvey thought he probably was.

“I’m an asshole,” Harvey explained, which did shock the man. “When I’m not on my best, client-facing behavior, it shows, and I’m in unfamiliar territory here. May I ask why you aren’t still nannying for those families if you left on such good terms?”

“Most placements don’t last that long. It’s the advantage of working for an agency, because they get me another placement. Kids get old enough to stay on their own. Or they find a neighborhood teenager who’s cheaper. Families move away; an aunt or grandparent moves to town or retires and can watch the kids. Some jobs are school-break only- the agency gets teachers and college kids who only want to work on breaks to supplement the normal nanny-pool then, but summer’s still the busiest time.”

“Would you be able to devote as much time as needed to Rebecca as your only client? I work more than the average parent and want to make sure she is well looked after,” he said, which sounded responsible. Like he was a composed human being responsible for a child and didn’t want to vomit from nerves whenever he was alone with said child. He was Harvey Specter. He could stare down any businessman- businessperson, opposing counsel, or Jessica Pearson. He could handle a little girl.

“Yes. I don’t have a full time gig right now, and other people can take the one-offs.” It was well into the summer, so full time nannying jobs of existing clients would have already been handled.

“Because your last placement ended on- unusual circumstances?” Harvey pressed.

“Yeah, well- I suppose it is relevant to my working conditions stipulations. My former employer came home after driving drunk and wanted to turn around and drive the kids to go get ice cream, to apologise for coming home so late. It was after the kids were asleep, fortunately, so they didn’t have to see that. So yes, I called the police, and waited until they arrived. My former client was drunk enough to not know what was even happening. And later- yesterday, actually, I spoke at the custody hearing. Their father was awarded full custody. He should have always had it. She cheated on him for years, but he didn’t even want a divorce because he was afraid of losing his kids. He was the more fit parent who loved and wanted his children. But courts just _ love _ giving kids to the mothers. His own mother has already moved in to help raise the children and I think they’ll be just fine.”

Harvey had heard the bones of the story from Donna relayed through the agency, but he felt like an ass for assuming the negligent parent was the father. Even though he wasn’t even on speaking terms with his own mother.

“I am- inclined to hire you. Do you have any questions for me?” Harvey asked.

“Discipline? I don’t do more than stuff like temporarily confiscating electronics or no dessert- if they’re a family that even does dessert. No withholding meals or corporal punishment.”

How had he not even _ thought _ of that?

“That seems reasonable,” he said. He had never had a stance on spanking before, but it definitely seemed like a bad idea in Harvey’s situation anyway. He was a strange man she didn’t know.

“Do you have a budget for activities outside of the apartment?”

“Such as?” Harvey honestly didn’t know what nine year old girls did. He’d spent most of that age playing baseball.

“Occasional meals out. We can make grocery trips and home-cooked meals too, of course. Museums, public transit. Shopping trips if she needs new things, maybe a movie here and there if there’s something she really wants to see- though Netflix has pretty good selection these days. Prime video has some stuff too.”

Those did sound like things a child would like. And he hadn’t intended to hire an amateur cook as well as a nanny, but Rebecca shouldn’t live off of takeout every day and he had never made the time or energy to cook regularly.

“There is no need for public transportation. You’ll have a driver, or call a taxi when needed. No limit on- museum- zoo- anything educational trips for Rebecca or you. And- purely recreational outings- however often is appropriate without spoiling a child. We can check in as necessary, but funds aren’t a major concern,” Harvey said, fishing out a credit card from his wallet to hand it to the man. He’d have to remember to monitor it more closely than he usually would, but the man had passed background checks and came with glowing recommendations. “You’re hired.”

The younger man seemed surprised, but accepted the card.

“Well… whatever you’re comfortable with transportation-wise. Though I would argue that experiencing public transportation is a vital part of being a New Yorker. But I’d say the same for taxis. I keep a group membership to all the zoos in town, and a couple museum memberships that I usually rotate each year, and am well versed in the free days some have. I- won’t waste your money is what I’m saying.”

“Use your best judgment. Free days in the summer are overcrowded. Don’t worry about the money,” Harvey corrected. And he _ knew _ from a look that somehow this nanny caught on that Harvey hadn’t always had money, and accepted it with a nod. It was a piercing look.

“Allergies, favorite and least favorite foods for you and Rebecca?” the man- Mike- asked. 

“I- don’t have any allergies and am not picky. I- don’t know about Rebecca,” Harvey admitted. “She ordered chicken fingers at the burger place we ordered from last night,” he said, not allowing himself to fidget thinking of the uncomfortable meal. And she’d rolled her eyes at the protein bars he’d indicated were breakfast options. It was a perfectly healthy balanced breakfast.

“I’m getting ahead of myself anyway. Can I meet Rebecca and get her approval before I’m official?” the man asked. Showing again how much better he was at this than Harvey. Harvey didn’t often interact with people whom he didn’t think he could do their jobs better than they did.

“She’s in her room,” Harvey said, indicating the door.

Mike stared at him for a moment before getting up and walking to the door. He’d probably expected Harvey to go over, or just shout for his daughter. But they weren’t that- casual. That familiar, really. The girl had just gotten there fourteen hours ago. And spent most of it in her new room on her new laptop. Not ideal parenting, he knew.

Mike knocked on the door to Rebecca’s room.

“Hey, I’m Mike. If you don’t hate me, I’ll be your new nanny.”

It was so quiet, Harvey heard a laptop close and Rebecca walk to the door and open it. So, Rebecca had definitely been able to hear their conversation. He wasn’t used to anyone else in his apartment. He resolved to look into having his room soundproofed. If he ever did anything again that needed soundproofing.

“I’m not a baby,” Rebecca informed him, arms folded. She had Michelle’s defiant attitude.

“That’s good,” Mike said. “Babies are adorable, but frankly, almost as boring as most adults.”

The girl actually smiled. Harvey hadn’t seen that happen before.

“I guess you’re okay,” Rebecca said.

“I get off that easy? You can ask all the tough questions; I won’t fold.”

“I have good instincts about people,” the girl said. “You’re okay.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear it. Should I stay or come back tomorrow? I know you said unpredictable hours, but do they have a predictable start time?”

“Stay today, I should be at work. And eight on most days, but I’ll give as much warning as I can if I’m needed at work sooner. I should know the day before unless an emergency arises. If needed, I can take Rebecca with me and my driver meet you back here.”

“I’m a light sleeper, I’ll wake if you call. I’ll need your number in case something goes up,” Mike reminded him.

Harvey handed him a card with his office and cell phone number. The man smirked. “I’ll text you so you have mine,” he said, still smiling, flipping the card over. Business cards were entirely respectable.

“Donna, will answer the office number. She’s excellent.”

“Have a good day at work,” Mike wished him. Rebecca still stood in the doorway to her room. Her dark eyes watching him. He didn’t remember Michelle’s eyes- of course he didn’t, it had been over ten years and they had known each other what- a couple months? He’d maybe seen her a dozen times. But he thought she wore her hair in similar braids.

“Have a good day, Rebecca,” Harvey managed to say. “Mike.” Mike smiled and nodded. Mike had bright blue eyes.

*****Mike*****

“So- food?” Mike asked.

“I had one of Harvey's protein bars for breakfast,” Rebecca said with an eye roll.

“Nutritionally balanced, quick, and _ some _ of them don’t taste like chalk, I hear.”

Rebecca smiled, “Well, Harvey must not know the good kinds. The taste is okay, but the texture- total chalk,” she said.

“So- your call and subject to change at any time- Is it too weird if I refer to Harvey as ‘your dad.’ I’m not starting some psychological five step program to get you to like him more, or I probably wouldn’t tell you about it,” Mike said.

“Or maybe you’re just using the honesty thing as a tactic,” Rebecca pointed out.

“Maybe,” Mike conceded. “Today it’s more my concern that you like me than if you like him. Long term though, way more important for you to hopefully like him, and he’s not- you know- a criminal or sociopath, so there are worse starting points.”

“You can call Harvey whatever you want, and I’ll call him whatever _ I _ want- which right now is Harvey- subject to change at any time,” Rebecca said, repeating his wording. She was a smart kid.

“Cool- and you? Do you want to go by ‘Rebecca’?” Mike asked.

She smiled. “I’m Becca. Everybody’s called me that since kindergarten when there was another Rebecca, and I like it. Except Nana, but she’s really stubborn. Mom only- called me Rebecca if I was in trouble. But don’t tell Harvey any of that,” Becca said.

“Psychological study of your own then? To test me or your dad or both. Am I allowed to call you ‘Becca’ in his presence? To see what he does?” Mike asked.

“Yep,” Becca agreed.

“Cool. Now, back to food. I’m getting the idea that there’s not a bunch of groceries in the fridge, freezer, and pantry?” Mike checked.

“There’s like ketchup and mustard, and not even a box of baking soda,” Becca rolled her eyes.

“Alright, are you up for fixing that with me? Riding in a New York City taxi is also a valuable experience.”

“Have you ever ridden in a cop car?” Becca asked.

“No, I’m quite glad to say I have not,” Mike said. He could have easily gone down that way.

“It’s a really nice way to travel- if you’re not arrested,” Becca said.

Their taxi driver was a kind Pakistani man, and Mike asked if he liked any sports, and they ended up talking about cricket, mostly explaining the rules to Becca. It was maybe a little stereotypical, but the best thing about sports in Mike’s mind was that it gave an easy conversation starter. Into the grocery store Mike kept the conversation going. He learned that Becca would call herself a White Sox fan, but didn’t actually hate the Cubs, though she would pretend to sometimes. Really, she was more of an underdog fan, and the Cubs were definitely that. But her mom was a Yankees fan, so she _ sort of _ liked them, even though they spent too much money to get whatever they wanted and were the least under-dogs ever. She liked Derek Jeter at least, even though practically everyone did, and was disappointed when he retired.

They needed basically everything at the grocery store, but Becca did get to make a lot of choices, and seemed to enjoy herself. For desserts, they settled on melting chocolate to go with the variety of fruit. It made it an activity, and a homemade frozen chocolate covered banana was an activity as well as a snack. Could be as fun to decorate as a cupcake too. And another week when he’d had his job longer, they could make cupcakes. And Becca asked about some biscuits, so they’d make those that day.

They took another taxi back to the penthouse apartment, and needed multiple trips to get everything in. It happens, sometimes you keep the meter running and hurry. But it would have been three trips if the doorman hadn’t stepped into help them. Becca and Mike exchanged a look. Mike had nannied at places with doormen- _ door-people?- _ plenty of times before, and it was still weird every time. Mike make sure he learned the man’s name- Tom- and thanked him.

Becca helped Mike unpack without being asked. It was pretty easy when there was nothing but empty space everywhere. They could make their own, loose organization system.

When it was all packed away, Mike was ready to collapse but didn’t.

“Lunch or chill?” Mike offered.

“Chill,” Becca said.

“I can make you lunch. Is food banned outside of the table?” he asked.

“I ate in my room last night,” Becca said.

“Alright, I’ll make some sandwiches and bring them to you?” he offered.

“Nice laptop,” Mike said, walking into the room a few minutes later. The door was open, but he hesitated in the doorway until she looked up anyway. She looked at the plate of sandwiches, a big one on a hoagie roll for each of them.

“Yeah, it’s nice,” Becca said, accepting the offered plate after Mike grabbed his off of it. “Harvey took me shopping for it last night,” she said. “And my phone.”

“What do you like to do on the computer?” Mike asked.

Becca looked questioningly, “I’m not like- looking up _ porn _ if that’s what you’re worried about,” she made a face. Mike made sure not to laugh. “Besides, the guy at the store suggested parental control stuff on my laptop and phone before we left the store. Not that I’ve tested it, because I haven’t,” she said.

“I was definitely, _ definitely _ not going to talk about porn with you, but I am in favor of safe search, so- good?”

“Because porn promotes unhealthy body image to young girls?” Becca asked. “Mom would say that.”

“Probably promotes lots of unhealthy stuff, but that might be the most relevant, yeah,” Mike said. “What do you like- Netflix? Games?”

“I’m still on our- old Netflix, but it’s been cancelled with the credit card and it going to run out after this month, but I didn’t want to ask Harvey about it,” Becca spilled out.

“I’m sure your dad has Netflix, or will get it. You could certainly have mine. But I’m sure he’d get it,” Mike said. “What else do you like? Any video games?”

“I like Minecraft,” she said.

“Minecraft’s really cool,” Mike agreed easily.

“Sometimes I’ll watch Minecraft youtubers. My mom didn’t really get that, and I had to ask to use her computer.”

“Do you watch Stampy Cat?” Mike asked. “He’s a very good storyteller,” Mike said, truthfully.

“Yeah, I do,” Becca grinned.

“That’s cool. The way I see it, watching a chill commentary playthrough is just like any television, and then there’s the comedians. And competitive gaming is a sport. It’ll get more and more recognition as years go on."

Becca nodded.

“I would have loved a laptop at your age,” Mike said. He regretted it a moment later, not trying to make it sound like he thought she should be grateful to Harvey or anything like that.

“Did laptops _ exist _ when you were my age?” Becca asked.

“_Yes_,” Mike shot back. “Admittedly not ones that could do nearly as much as yours. I don’t remember when the first kids started getting computers at home. I didn’t have one until highschool when I saved up and bought my own, but most kids did earlier. And we always had them at school- in the computer lab, not like laptops provided by lots of high schools now.”

“So- was your family poor?” Becca asked. Not as bluntly as she said many things.

“Not like _ really _ poor, but money was tight. And then they died when I was eleven, and I moved in with my grandmother, and she _ really _ didn’t know anything about computers.” He said it all calmly. Better for it to come up in an early interaction, probably.

“Oh,” Becca said softly. “Is that why you’re my nanny?”

“I don’t make it a secret, and it does affect how I work. Also important was that the first child I nannied for was a little boy who’d just lost his father, who was a soldier. I’m never going to say that two situations are alike, but I like to think I’m pretty easy to talk to.”

“How much of what I say are you going to tell Harvey?” Becca asked.

“Anything that you tell me _ not _ to tell him, I won’t tell him, unless I’m worried about your safety- mental or physical. But you should still talk about it. To me or anyone else you want to. I talked to a school counselor after my parents died. I didn’t think it helped at the time, but I still think about some of the things she said sometimes.”

“Like, what did she say?” Becca asked.

“Well, keep in mind that it was a while ago, and _ I’m _ not any kind of counselor, and I’m pretty sure the woman I talked to wasn’t actually that qualified- like she probably about twenty-two and just had a bachelor’s in psychology instead of being a real psychologist with a PhD.”

“Mhm,” Becca rolled her eyes. It seemed like a small good sign.

“She said, ‘Sometimes we feel like it’s our fault when someone dies, but it’s not,’ and ‘It’s okay to feel sad, mad, scared, and anything else that you’re feeling.’ Those were the most helpful.”

“Did you think it was your fault?” she asked.

“Not really, but I would think about it anyway. I said they could go, and I would be okay at home alone, because I was eleven, and my friends were staying home by themselves sometimes. They were having a date night, which was really rare, and I didn’t want to get dropped off at my grandmother’s like usual. Maybe they would have been safe if they had been driving to her place instead. Mostly, I blamed the drunk driver who hit them. I really, really don’t like drunk drivers.”

“My mom got angry at that too,” Becca said. “I blame the criminal who shot my mom. Her old partner shot him and he died, so he’s not around to hate anymore. She was a detective, not supposed to be on the streets that much. Her kind of detectives mostly go in after the crime was over, not looking for new crimes. But she would go sometimes with her old partner, especially when one of his rookies washed out. She went out to not forget, she said,” Becca confessed. Kids picked up on lots of things, and Becca clearly wanted to talk. “So- I guess I’m also... mad at her for that,” Becca said. “I don’t want to be forced to talk to anyone about it. But you can tell Harvey.”

“Thank you, Becca, for telling me all that.”

“Can I have an afternoon dessert? Mom would let me have dessert after we got home if I had something hard- like a test or someone was mean. Even if it wasn’t that much before dinner.”

“Yeah, Becca, you can have a dessert. We can make some chocolate covered strawberries, or just eat chocolate straight from the bag. And then maybe we make dinner?”

Becca nodded, “And can we make the biscuits?”

“Sounds great.”

“Mike?” Becca said his name quietly.

“Yeah, Becca?”

“You don’t have to keep anything but the name thing secret for now,” she said. And was quiet for a bit. But Mike had a good idea that she had more to say. “I’m pretty sure my mom didn’t tell him I existed,” Becca said, staring at the blank wall of her room. They should paint that.

“That’s what your dad said, and I believed him,” Mike said.

“When I was little, she said that some kids just don’t have dads,” Becca said. “And, plenty of kids around me didn’t seem to have dads, so I didn’t really think anything of it. When I- found out how- babies were made, I asked again, and she said she didn’t know who my father was, but that when I was older, I could find him if I still wanted to with one of those ancestry things you see on tv. I’m pretty sure she would have just told me when I was older- since she clearly knew who he was all along. I didn’t ask again. I wondered about him though. I figured out he was white- for me to look like I do- or maybe like white latino. Most of the kids at my school were black or latino.”

Mike just nodded.

  
  


*****Harvey*****

Harvey had naturally stayed late after he’d come in at noon. No one in the office besides Donna and Jessica even knew that his life had been upturned. He didn’t know about every other senior partner’s children- well, he did know about those of everyone who had been made senior partner before him, but if they’d had any in the years since, he probably hadn’t noticed. Technically, the firm had a _ very generous _ (by US standards) month of paternity leave, but almost no one took it. Shifting clients to other partners would be bad for your long term business. Most female junior and senior partners didn’t have them, or had them late. Most of the associates would take minimal time away, so only paralegals and support staff really benefited from the policy. And the IT guy didn’t seem like he was having children any time soon.

Harvey came home to a clean kitchen with two messy people in it, flour evidently brushed off their faces and hair but not properly cleaned. “Making cookies?” Harvey asked, eyebrows raised.

“I offered a few things, but Becca picked biscuits- _ cheddar bay biscuits _, Red Lobster’s recipe. The second batch is still warm, and spaghetti’s in the fridge if you haven’t had dinner.”

“Have you ever been to Red Lobster?” Rebecca asked him. Harvey tried to think if she’d asked him _ any _ questions before at all. There had been a lot of silence and some Harvey talking, and mostly Harvey doing.

“I haven’t, but we can go if you want,” Harvey answered. Or he’d take her to get lobster somewhere far nicer, but if the girl wanted a chain restaurant that she was familiar with, he was sure there must be one in the city somewhere.

“The only reason to go is for the biscuits,” Rebecca explained. “You order a meal, but you know you’re not going to have room for any of it, because there’s _ unlimited _ cheddar biscuits that come out like four at a time in a basket with a napkin, and the first ones you eat right away. The _ second _ four, you grab the napkin and stick them straight in your purse, and ask another waiter for more biscuits. You keep getting more biscuits until you’re full, and your purse is pretty full too and kinda greasy, and if you have a good waiter, they send you home with _ more _ biscuits in a paper bag and also your meals, and that’s like three meals of leftovers each with all the biscuits, so really it’s not that expensive of a place. And it’s not stealing, because they’re unlimited, but you still hide them because it’s fun. But we don’t have to go, because _ our _ biscuits tasted just as good, and it was also pretty fun to make them,” Rebecca said. It was probably more words than Harvey had heard the girl say in her entire time with him the day before combined.

“Well, I’ll have to try one then,” Harvey said, walking over and grabbing a biscuit from the plate. Butter clearly featured high on the list of ingredients. And the biscuit was gone in two bites. “Delicious,” Harvey commented, grabbing another to prove his point. And because he was surprisingly hungry and it was very good. Rebecca and Mike both smiled happily. “Rebecca, perhaps you need to clean yourself up?” he suggested. The flour was even more obvious and everywhere on her than it was on Mike.

“Yeah, yeah, okay,” she agreed, heading for the bathroom. It was her bathroom now, essentially. Not connected to her room, but next to it, and Harvey wouldn’t use it anymore. He hardly ever did before- it was more for guests. And often his… past guests to his apartment ended up much closer to his own bathroom.

“Is it okay if we paint Becca’s room?” Mike asked after Rebecca turned on the sink and wouldn’t hear them. One day with the girl and he was already giving her a nickname.

“Rebecca can pick the color and I can have it done within the week,” Harvey agreed.

“Ah- is it alright if we did it, Becca and I? I won’t let any get on the furniture or floors, I promise. I find it helps to make a space feel theirs. I’ve dealt with lots of kids who have had to move.”

“If she wants to, that’s fine,” Harvey said.

“Hey, first stop tomorrow- paint,” Mike called, walking to the other side of the space. Den, sitting room, living room, grand room, whatever the vogue term was. “What color do you want us to paint your room?” Mike asked Rebecca.

Rebecca’s stuck her head out, now clean wet skin showing. She darted a glance Harvey and back skeptically. “Any color I want? This place is grown up fancy,” she said.

“It’s your room,” Harvey said in answer. Maybe non-answer.

“Lighter colors of walls promote happiness,” Mike threw in. “But you can put as much or little stock into that as you want.” Harvey had never even read a parenting book and he had a nine-year-old. And nine-year-olds turned into hormonal teenagers susceptible to depression. And _ this _ nine-year-old had been through a traumatic event, so, for all he knew, that depression could probably start any time rather than wait a few years.

“What if I wanted… dark purple?” Rebecca asked. Harvey was not responsible enough for this. He had never even decided to get a _ dog _.

“I might _ gently _ suggest a darker purple accent wall and the others a lighter purple?” Mike suggested. “As an option.”

“That does sound pretty cool,” Rebecca agreed. They both looked at Harvey for a moment, but it was clear he wasn’t going to object. Or really say anything useful in the slightest.

“And _ we’re _ going to do it?” Rebecca asked. Harvey thought she seemed excited. “Have you done this before?” she added a bit skeptically. “I don’t want to end up with nasty walls.” Maybe more than a bit skeptically. The kid spoke her mind.

“Yes, I’ve done this before, your Highness. Many times. As a- professional nanny, admittedly, not a professional painter, but I’ve never had complaints. I even already have everything we need besides the paint- and some foam rolls- those are pretty hard to reuse,” he said. Mike spent his own money on supplies, is what that said. But Harvey already knew that from the zoo and museum memberships. “I don’t have a trustworthy freehand, but have even done some decent stamp or stencil work- a wallpaper effect without the terror of wallpaper- putting up wallpaper is not very fun, and removing it is much worse.”

“I think the accent wall is fancy enough for now- subject to change at any time,” she added with a smile, and Mike grinned back. Harvey picked up social cues- that was an inside joke. They had an _ inside joke _ already, and a nickname.

“I’ll see you both at eight tomorrow, if I don’t get a text or call before then,” Mike said, leaving them.

“Thank you for making dinner,” Harvey said, because it seemed like a nice thing to say.

“It’s pretty late. Did you already eat?” Rebecca asked him.

“No, I was just working,” he said.

Becca nodded.

“I- don’t always work that late, but missing yesterday and coming late today… there was some stuff to catch up on.”

“Sorry,” the girl mumbled.

“No I- didn’t mean it like that. Just- I won’t- always be coming home after dark in the middle of summer when you should- I should- I don’t really know when kids your age are supposed to go to sleep,” he admitted.

“If I didn’t have to wake up by a certain time the next day, I didn’t have to go to bed by a certain time the night before,” she told him. If it was a lie, it was a good one. “Except I had to go to be before she did. But I’m thinking you don’t go to bed early.”

“Do you think you’ll wake up when Mike gets here at eight?” Harvey asked.

“Maybe, but I don’t have to, do I?” she asked.

“No, not if you can sleep through it,” Harvey said, grabbing a plate to get himself some spaghetti to have something to do. And so he didn’t just eat the entire platter of biscuits. The refrigerator was more full than it had ever been before, and all the drawers were utilized as intended, fruits, vegetables, meats, cheese, and more things on the shelves that didn’t fit in those categories, or couldn’t fit in the drawers.

“Kids my age need ten hours. I have to be in bed lights out by ten if I _ have _ to be up by eight,” she said.

Harvey didn’t point out that she could hardly be expected to fall asleep right away. Because silence was more helpful than that.

“Do you- have everything you need for the night?” he asked.

“Yeah. I checked all those bags, so I have everything I really need,” she said.

“Good,” he said. “And you know- the rest is in storage, if you think of something you want later,” he said. She nodded. They’d rented, so there wasn’t a house to sell. Everything moved easily enough to storage. Someone Harvey paid had helped Rebecca pack whatever she wanted to take- apparently with color coded stickers denoting take and trash, and everything else went into storage, just in case.

Harvey looked down when his phone vibrated.

**Nothing’s wrong, just need to check in after a first day privately. Call me after Becca goes to sleep.**

It was designed to make him not freak out. It could have just said to call him. Harvey still didn’t feel great.

Harvey made the call after wishing Becca goodnight after she shut the door. She did say it back. That seemed like major improvement from the night before. But now his new nanny had something to tell him. Which Harvey might have shut himself in his closet before he made the call. He really needed to get people to come about sound proofing.

He didn’t say anything when Mike picked up the phone. Usually he got in the first and last words of a conversation.

“Harvey, you okay?” Mike asked.

“What is it?” Harvey asked.

“Just- Becca and I had some serious conversations about her mom, and she wanted you to know. She explicitly said I could tell you, which is really a good sign.”

“Okay,” Harvey said, because saying something seemed needed.

“And you might already know. Becca’s mom died when she was doing a patrol she didn’t have to be on. Her job was supposed to be safer than that by now- like mostly at the station, but she liked going out. Becca’s mad at her for it. Which was really good and healthy for her to admit. Also the man who actually killed her mother is already dead, which I’m sure you knew, and Becca seemed… relieved by that, which is normal. She said she didn’t want to be forced to talk to someone, but she didn’t seem totally closed off to the idea of therapy. That’s- all I have to report, I think. We really did have a good day.”

“Should I be insulted that she told you all this and not me, or are you just that good at your job?” Harvey joked almost painfully.

“She told me a lot of it after it came up that my parents were dead. And she did specifically say I could tell you. She wanted you to know. It’s a good sign, Harvey,” Mike repeated his earlier words. “You’re doing well.”

“I feel like I’m drowning. Tips?” Harvey asked. It was more humility than he would show in a year.

“If you need a conversation starter, sports works as well for kids as adults. Try baseball,” he suggested.

“Cubs or White Sox?” Harvey asked, trying to see what he could work with.

“Does it matter? You should ask her. Just don’t be a pushy Yankees fan. Though she doesn’t hate the Yankees, so you’re in luck there. I probably wouldn’t have suggested it otherwise.”

“What makes you confident I like the Yankees?” Harvey asked. He didn’t have any Yankees decorations in his home. Probably because he never spent as many waking hours there as in his office.

“Far from conclusive, but you have a chipped old Yankees mug with an expertly repaired handle that you clearly still use. Probably a sentimental gift, but pretty likely from that that you like the team as well. Also, decent chance in an average New Yorker. Also… bonus tip- kids break stuff. Anything that you would shout at Becca over breaking should probably just go somewhere very safe preemptively,” Mike advised.

There were not many signs anywhere in Harvey’s life that he could ever be a sentimental person. That was maybe the only one that someone could deduce from like that, but it still seemed impressive.

“Thank you, Mike,” Harvey said. “Anything else I should know?”

“Ah… yeah, have you picked out a school for Becca yet?” Mike asked.

“I- have not investigated yet. We have done some work for Baxter Academy, and I understand it’s an excellent education. Do you have experience?”

“Ah- honestly, enough to recommend against it? They’re not just rich, they’re snobby, old money, and really, really white. And they don’t let girls wear pants- which is common but feels weird, and they have some strict hair guidelines that are masked racism. And their academics aren’t really better than the other elite schools. I think she’d like Easton or Noland, but maybe some tours, see what she likes?”

“I- could get my assistant to… set something up.”

“I can handle it, if you want,” Mike offered.

“Thank you.” He was used to hiring people to do things. This was just like anything else.


	2. No Training Wheels

*****Mike*****

Mike watched Harvey Specter stalk across the room carefully, keeping himself between the man and Becca. He’d been at the house a week without any trouble. Becca was settling in well, all things considered. Harvey did need him a lot of hours, but he’d seemed to be putting in effort when he was there, even if he was uncomfortable. But a parent coming home angry and heading straight for the liquor cabinet did not make Mike feel good.

“You didn’t notice the page turn,” Becca said next to him, interrupting the words of the story that were still pouring out of Mike’s mouth.

“Oh- I’m sorry, I was just a little bit distracted,” he told her. Mr. Specter hadn’t come near them, hadn’t said or done anything threatening, and he did seem calmer with every moment. And he hadn’t poured a very large drink. Nothing alarming.

“You’re distracted because Harvey walked in angry and you went into protection mode. My- my mom was a cop, I recognize the signs,” Becca shrugged. She sometimes called Harvey ‘my father’ or even ‘my dad’ when it was just them, but it was still always ‘Harvey’ when the man was around. She looked okay, not bothered. Mike looked over at Harvey Specter, and the man’s eyes were closed, face drawn.

“I- wouldn’t-” he protested softly. “I would _ never _ hurt you, Rebecca. I- have never harmed a child or woman, and I never would. I’m- not proud that I have been in a few fist fights with men.”

“I wasn’t afraid of you,” Becca spoke up. “You’re _ emotionally challenged _ and scared to be alone with me, but I’m never afraid you’re going to hit me or anything like that,” she said. “I still lock my door at night in case,” she shrugged. “Cop mom.”

“Understandable,” Harvey muttered, eyes still closed.

“Mike kept saying the words to the story when he wasn’t looking at the book anymore, even after we were supposed to be on a new page, he got all the words right,” Becca said. “That’s _ weird _.”

“I’ve read the book before,” Mike said easily. It wasn’t a skill that came up that often in nannying, and it was pretty weird.

“You read _ Harriet the Spy _\- like what- every day for years? For some other nine-year-old girl?” Becca asked.

“Ah- no, it’s been a while. I have a good memory, and I did like the book,” Mike said. He did glance at his employer, who was looking at him oddly as well. Intelligent men were often bothered by it.

“How many times have you read it, and how long ago?” Becca pressed.

“Are you going to grow up to be a detective?” Mike asked. “Or a lawyer?”

“Which would make you answer my questions?” Becca shot back.

“Either. I’ve got nothing to hide. I- read it once, when I was your age. I have a really good memory. It’s just a thing I can do. It really doesn’t come up that often.”

“Why are you wasting time watching kids when you have like- a superpower?” Becca pressed. “You’re like Shawn from Psych.” It wasn’t the worst comparison, from what Mike had seen of the show. Not exactly accurate, but close enough. Less with the noticing everything and more with the remembering every word of a book from about twenty years ago...

“It’s not a superpower. And I’m lucky enough to make a living doing _ exactly _ the work I want to be doing. There’s nothing else I’d rather be. Lots of people don’t get to have that.”

“Thanks, Mike,” Becca whispered, suddenly throwing herself into him for a hug. Mike’s automatically wrapped arms around her and patted her back. “My mom really loved her job,” Becca whispered. This was really good. More ideal if it were to her father instead of Mike, but...

“I’m sure she did,” Mike said, and he agreed, patting her back but looking over at Harvey. “I get the feeling that your dad loves his job a lot too- most days. Maybe today wasn’t a great day. But, he _ is _ here in time for dinner like he said,” Mike pointed out.

“He can join the hug too if he wants,” Becca shrugged. “I’m okay-ish.”

Mike looked at Harvey intently. The other man put down his glass- he hadn’t even finished the small serving of whiskey- and walked over. He put a hand on his daughter’s head.

“Sorry I’m bad at this,” the man said.

“Yeah, well, my mom should have told you I existed. So you could get better at parenting before I was old enough to remember,” Becca shrugged. She had a way of seeming a lot older than nine years old. “You’re not doing that badly.” And at that, Harvey joined the hug properly, his chest encompassing Becca’s back, head leaned down on her head, eyes closed. His hands consequently ended up around Mike’s back, and he wasn’t there particularly long before pulling away.

“What’s for dinner?” Harvey asked. “Or I’ll order pizza.”

“We _ made _ pizza actually,” Mike said. “No promises on the taste, but it was fun to make.”

“My grandmother says that homemade always tastes better, because it’s made with _ love_. And if it doesn’t taste better, the ones eating it should shut up and be grateful.” Mike had been briefed on Becca’s family situation. Grandmother was in no condition to take in her granddaughter, alreading in a nursing home herself, and no other family was in the picture. No immediate medical threat, but not able to raise a child like Mike’s grandmother had done for him. Of course, Mike hadn’t had a father then. “But it’s New York style- sort of- and we put cheese in the crust,” Becca added.

Mike bid them goodbye after dinner. He had wanted to try what they made, after all. And Harvey had been looking just a little bit lost like he was scared to be alone with his own daughter.

“I bet your dad would read some more of _ Harriet the Spy _ with you,” Mike suggested, to give them something to do. Even though Becca was perfectly capable of reading it on her own. He didn’t imagine Harvey nodding gratefully.

  
  


*****Harvey*****

“So- Becca’s grandmother still lives in Chicago, yeah? Becca tried to talk to her yesterday evening- but she was asleep already. I assume she’ll call again today,” Mike said, looking at him expectantly too early in the morning. Harvey had an early meeting. Becca was taking a shower, it sounded like.

“That’s fine,” Harvey said, wondering what more was to be said.

“She went into a nursing facility pretty recently- she’s still in relatively okay health?”

Was he trying to insinuate that Rebecca should have gone to her? Mike was raised by his grandmother.

“She wasn’t in a position to care for Rebecca,” Harvey said stiffly.

Mike’s eyes went wide, “Oh, I wasn’t saying that I thought that. Becca is _ definitely _ best off with you- and your life is solidly in New York. And- probably Mrs. Williams’s life is solidly in Chicago. I’m- sorry for being nosy, I had just wondered if- her moving to New York was ever- asked about by anyone. She lived in New York… years ago?”

From what Harvey had gathered, the woman had moved to Chicago to help Michelle raise Rebecca. Eight hundred miles from Harvey. He wondered if he’d have been a good dad by now, with about eight months of warning and nearly ten years of practice. Even if he only saw her every other weekend or even less often.

“I spoke to the woman once. I offered to pay to have her moved to New York, to live in one of the finest facilities, or to live in an apartment in this building with a live-in care provider- someone who could help with her and Rebecca. She did not take kindly to the offer. She said I couldn’t buy my way out of everything, and she and Rebecca weren’t _ problems _ to throw money at, and she had saved for her own retirement and would never be a burden to anyone.”

“Ah… yeah. Money sensitivity. Would it be- overstepping if I… mentioned some… other options in the city? I know some great nursing homes with very nice people- including ones at lower price points that she might be comfortable with.”

Harvey stared at the younger man. Giving Rebecca a larger support system wasn’t in any way a selfish or sinister thing to suggest, but it was still strange for a nanny to give so much thought, wasn’t it? Maybe it wasn’t. And maybe Mike was just strange. “Feel free to try as long as you don’t get Rebecca’s hopes up.”

When Harvey talked to Rebecca and Mike that evening, Rebecca was very pleased about her grandmother moving to New York. Harvey was covering all relocation costs, but after that, Mrs. Williams- Evelyn- would be covering her own expenses as she wanted, at a place where Mike seemed to know every resident.

*****Mike*****

“So, you ride your bike here, all the way from your apartment?” Becca asked him.

“Yeah, I do. Good exercise, and pretty consistent travel time,” Mike outlined.

“I have a bike. It’s downstairs chained up,” Becca said.

“Mine too. Do you want to go riding?” Mike asked. Harvey would probably want them to take a ridiculous huge car that could hold two bikes to a park, but it was on his dime, so Mike wouldn’t complain.

“It still has training wheels,” Becca said, not looking happy about it.

“Ah, well, that’s not too hard to fix, if you want. And if you don’t, there’s nothing wrong with having some extra wheels indefinitely. It still gets you around, and it’s still good exercise,” Mike argued.

“I don’t want to be the _ baby _ that needs training wheels by the time I start my new school.”

“Then, let’s get them off. And maybe we can go to a park this evening. Grab the toolkit from the laundry room?” Mike asked and grabbed his phone.

  
  


*****Harvey*****

Mike had never texted him at work before. His heart might have been beating a bit faster from worry. He wasn’t actually heartless.

**Hey, Becca wants to learn to ride her bike without training wheels. I can teach her, probably get her riding in an afternoon. But it’s a pretty big kid rite of passage, so thought you might want in? Free time this evening? I can be there to help or not.**

_ I should have messaged you earlier. Client dinner this evening, will probably run until late. _

**Don’t worry about the notice. I’ll delay Becca on the biking until you’re free? Hopefully in the next few days, because she’s pretty eager.**

Harvey looked at the time.

_ I can make it work to take a break now. Meet me at Bryant Park in forty five minutes? _

He’d take work home and lose some sleep, but that was nothing new.

**Sounds great. You’ll be really glad you did, I promise.**

Mike was kneeling in the grass when Harvey arrived. Harvey could see plaid boxers, and listened to his commentary.

“Balance bikes have become popular now- bike frames without pedals at all- teaching balance before peddling so you never get used to training wheels in the first place, and you have your feet to catch yourself. It’s a better order to teach, but hey- all of us old people learned with training wheels, and we came out of it. And no need to buy an expensive piece of equipment you won’t use for long, when a wrench will get the job done. There!” Mike said, standing. “Training wheels and pedals off- so you don’t hit your shins, and seat down so your feet touch the ground. See how it feels,” Mike encouraged.

Rebecca waved at him, making Mike turn around. “Hey, perfect timing,” Mike greeted, and wiped sweat from his forehead, leaving a streak of grease above his eye.

Harvey pulled out his handkerchief and held it out to Mike, “You’re a mess, and you just got it on your forehead,” he said. Not laughing. Maybe smiling

Mike held up his hands without reaching for it. “Woah, pretty sure that thing costs more than my whole outfit, and this shirt’s shot already. I keep a spare of everything in my bag anyway. Occupational hazard. Thanks though,” he said, and wiped his hands right on his shirt. Harvey did not make a disgusted face. Then the brute ducked his head and lifted the collar of his t-shirt up to wipe his forehead.

The man was even skinnier than he looked. The sort where surprisingly visible abs were visible less from bulk and more from a total lack of stomach fat. Probably still had the metabolism of a kid, he thought uncharitably, but he’d seen how healthy Mike ate- mostly chicken, vegetables, and fruit. Pizza being a treat. Leaving the breading and cheese off his piece when he and Rebecca made chicken parmesan. No ranch when they had hot wings. Never drinking anything besides water unless Harvey offered him a beer, though he accepted one when offered. Harvey was surprised he noticed any of that.

“Okay, there’s a nice, gentle, grassy hill over there. We’ll go to the top, you go down towards your dad. Just keep the handlebars straight and walk down on your feet. If you feel steady, lift them up a bit- like how when you run you don’t always have a foot on the ground,” Mike described.

By the third pass, Rebecca was wobbling down the hill and only put her foot down once.

“That was really great,” Harvey praised.

“Really?” the girl asked, looking up at him.

“Of course. I’m very glad I came,” Harvey answered.

“Mike didn’t tell me you were coming,” she said. “He can be tricksy like that.”

“An okay surprise, I hope?” Harvey asked.

Rebecca rolled her eyes, “Yeah, you’re good. _ Obviously_. Thanks for coming.”

“I might be pretty late with a client dinner. I hope to see you before bed, but I will expect you to sleep well before I do.”

“That’s okay,” she said and turned to Mike, “Hill again?”

“You can push yourself on the flat parts when you feel up to it. Move onto the path when you’re ready.”

“I’m ready,” she declared, walking her bike to the path with little pushes forward, sometimes having to stop entirely to not fall over, but not that often.

Harvey hadn’t noticed the middle-aged woman coming up behind them until she was talking to Mike. “You just have the most beautiful family. Adoption is such a wonderful thing- for anyone, but especially for the two of you.”

“Oh- thank you, ma’am,” Mike answered. “Not our situation though. Have a good day,” he said before sprinting ahead after Rebecca, messenger bag bouncing against his hip. Harvey didn’t look in the woman's direction and sped his pace as well. He had no interest in talking to the nosy woman. He didn’t have to make nice with people highly unlikely to become clients in public parks.

Harvey was perpetually lagging behind, attempting not to sweat in his suit, his jacket long since thrown over his arm. He should resign himself to wearing his spare office suit to the client dinner that evening, but he did like this one quite a bit more. But his spare shirt wouldn’t coordinate with this suit at all. He could, perhaps, go home to change.

“I want to put the pedals on,” Rebecca was saying when Harvey got into earshot.

“Sure you’ve got your balance?” Mike checked.

“I’ll get better later, and he’s gonna have to go back to work some time. I can _ do _ it,” she said. Harvey ran the next several yards, hoping he wouldn’t need to speak. She _ wanted _ him to be there.

“Alright then,” Mike agreed, tossing down his bag, and grabbing the pedals wrapped in a towel- his own towel, because it certainly hadn’t come from Harvey’s apartment, and a wrench that Harvey couldn’t have said if it was his or not. “We’re putting the pedals on,” Mike said, looking up at Harvey.

Harvey nodded. “You’re doing very well,” he managed to say to his daughter. He had a daughter, and she wanted him to see her ride her bike.

“Are you going to take credit for my athletic genes?” she asked.

“I’m sure your mother had something to do with it,” Harvey said. “But I _ will _ take full credit anyway, and for your coordination,” he said.

She laughed. She laughed at a joke he’d made, even though it wasn’t a very good one. Mike smiled up at him too, and he moved to the other side of the bike, one pedal now in place.

“And if some arrogance appears, that’s me too, but don’t tell anyone that,” he said, which was met with another laugh, and a coughing fit from Mike.

“When do you have to go back to work?” Rebecca asked, checking her phone for the time. He wondered if she would like a watch.

“I- would need to leave by three to get to a meeting… but I could miss it,” Harvey said. “If we’re still here. I- don’t want to rush you or miss this,” he said.

Rebecca beamed at him, “I’m going to be biking way before then. Like as soon as Mike puts on the pedals.”

“The seat’s still low, so you can put your feet down whenever you want, but it’s real easy to get tangled up in the pedals and fall- no shame in that at all, which is why we’ll be on grass, and you’ve got jeans.”

“Yeah, yeah, done yet?” the girl asked.

There were falls, and smiles, and ripped jeans when Rebecca went on the concrete, but no blood or tears.

“They’re old, and now they’re more fashionable,” she said easily.

“Yeah, well, back on the grass, missy,” Mike instructed.

“It's easier to not fall on the concrete,” Rebecca objected. “I went really far that time. I _ turned_,” she pointed out. And that she hadn’t fallen until _after_ the turn was true enough.

“And worse when you did fall. Plenty of time for that later. You’re doing really great, Becca,” he praised.

“You are,” Harvey added.

They stayed until Rebecca said she was tired and wanted to leave, which _ happened _ to be right at three. And she gave Harvey a hug before walking away leaning against Mike. Maybe she was tired.

“Harvey, what the hell are you doing? McKenzie will be here in ten minutes and you look like you went… boxing in your suit.”

“Donna can stall. I have a spare, and I was chasing after a nine-year-old girl on a bicycle,” Harvey decided to say just before he said it. Rebecca was part of his life. She wasn’t a dirty little secret.

“Excuse me? What good reason could there _ possibly _ be for that?”

“Because I was enjoying seeing my daughter ride her bicycle for the first time without training wheels. A childhood rite of passage that I wasn’t going to miss.”

“Since _ when _ have you had a daughter?” Louis demanded. Harvey grabbed his spare suit and caddy of personal care products and headed to the men’s room. His current tie would still work if it wasn’t sweaty, though his spare tie was fine.

“About nine years and eleven months ago,” he answered, walking faster. Maybe, maybe Louis would get more of the story, just because he would never leave it alone otherwise, but he wasn’t spilling everything where associates could hear. Or other partners. Louis could be quiet if he felt ‘special’ to be in on a secret.

“Harvey!” Louis called. “Harvey!”

“Out or in?” Harvey invited, holding the door open. Looking in the mirror, he did look like a mess.

Louis closed his mouth tightly and stepped inside. Harvey locked the door behind them. There were other bathrooms, and he stepped far from the door.

“Do you think having a daughter sounds better if I did or didn’t know she existed a month ago?”

“You’re asking me? You have a daughter you didn’t know about a month ago?”

“I didn’t _ say _ that. I asked. And I’m asking you because you’re nosy, and if you think you don’t have the real story, you might just hire a private investigator, which you absolutely _ will not do _, understand?” Harvey checked, unbuttoning his shirt and tossing it off. “And you were the one who followed me into the mens room to watch me get naked. Eyes away, mister,” he chided. Louis rolled his eyes. Louis had no problem with anyone’s nudity, particularly his own. It was weird. The man turned around anyway with a dramatic sigh.

Harvey had used his spare undershirt a week before and hadn’t thought to get a new one, so he’d do without. Harvey Specter didn’t sweat in a simple meeting. Wiping down, fresh deodorant, cologne, new shirt, after a momentary decision, new tie.

“I’m _ waiting _,” Louis said.

“Rebecca’s mother died, and if the grandmother was unable to take care of the girl, she was to go to me. Rebecca’s mother had not previously seen fit to tell me of the girl’s existence, or her of mine. We’re dealing, adjusting. She’s riding a bike. She’s wonderful.”

“She’s a… preteen, not a toddler, shouldn’t you ask her if you should tell the world you didn’t know she existed?” Louis said. ‘Preteen’ was a revolting word, but surely it didn’t include nine-year-olds? More like eleven and twelve? “But if you want my opinion, if anyone knows you well enough to know you didn’t have kids, tell them that you didn’t know about her, so the mother looks bad, not you, and you don’t look like a negligent father, but a man in a difficult new situation. And it has the benefit of being the truth if anyone does hire a private investigator, yes? Not that I would,” he added.

“Not that _ anyone _ would, because that’s insane,” Harvey corrected, in his new suit pants now and working on his hair. And those shoes… “Could I convince you to clean my shoes for me?” he asked.

“_Really? _” Louis demanded, but he spun around and grabbed them up anyway.

“Thank you,” Harvey said, which did get Louis’s attention, and a pleasant nod.

“Anything for the betterment of the firm. You’re lucky your shoes match your spare suit.”

“I have spare shoes but didn’t have the hands to grab them,” Harvey said. He’d forgotten them, and at this point this was faster.

His hair wasn’t a total disaster, and he was done with it by the time Louis was done with his shoes. His socks would have to do as well. He wonders momentarily if it would be humanizing to have just shown up sweaty with mud on his shoes and said he’d just seen his daughter ride a bicycle without training wheels for the first time. Most people had or at least liked children, didn’t they?

The meeting went well, because of course it did, he was Harvey Specter. He checked his phone afterwards, which he did more lately.

**So- Becca doesn’t know how to swim. And I think she’s pretty excited to learn with the biking success. My plan is to take her to the closest YMCA tomorrow, get her in the pool, and if that goes well, teach her some basics, and look at swim classes with kids near her age- YMCAs are pretty good about that, and she’d probably like to meet other kids. ** ** _Really_ ** ** can’t put her in with a bunch of four and five year olds. I just wanted to check if you had a fancy country club membership we should look into.**

_ I don’t, but I should. Could even be a business expense with making new contacts- which I would keep Rebecca entirely separate from, of course _, Harvey included in the same message. He wasn’t going to use his daughter to get business. But it would open him up to a different clientele.

**I’ll plan on us slumming it tomorrow ;) Okay to sign her up for a swim class if I find one that looks good?**

_ I trust your judgment. _

  
  


*****Mike*****

Mike had been ready to deal with water-fear, but he hadn’t been expecting some teenage lifeguard to tell a little girl she couldn’t get in the pool with a t-shirt on, even though she had a swimsuit on under it. Because the cotton clogs the filters. Which he had _ known _ , but come on, it was a YMCA. Kids _ pooped _ in the pool sometimes. He didn’t know if was a site policy or a teenager on a power trip.

“We should get some goggles anyway. Would help me to have a pair. Same place will have swim shirts. Easy.”

Mike had them go to a sporting goods store that he knew had a large swimming section. Harvey wouldn’t care about the price, and options showed normalcy, which was good.

Becca was quiet in the taxi. He’d offered a trip like this earlier, but she had said she had a swimsuit and didn’t need anything else.

“We can get some noodles- other floats. I think I’d look _great_ with a unicorn float- what do you think?” he asked, which got him a small smile. “What about you?”

“Mmmmm shark,” she said. “If they have it.”

“If they don’t, we’ll get something and order more later. Really- if you want a different suit, shirt, shorts, or skirt for every day of the week, totally yours. Not saying money solves problems, but it can be fun. And if there’s anything you want to talk about- I’ll listen to whatever,” he said.

“Maybe later,” she nodded.

Mike knew she was already familiar with the concept of body insecurity. Kids were pretty young. And Becca wasn’t even close to overweight, but she was… more mature looking than most girls her age. Which made Mike realize that there was another conversation they hadn’t touched. Puberty wasn’t that far off. And privacy was hard to come by outside of the apartment.

Becca had picked out two new swimsuits, both plain one-pieces, and two coverup shirts, and a pair of shorts and a skirt. 

When Mike didn’t see anyone around, he said, “You know I’ve been nanny to dozens of girls and wouldn’t mind talking about girl stuff if you needed or wanted?”

“Mom gave me the American Girl company puberty book when I turned eight. I’m good,” she said.

“It’s a good book,” Mike commented. “Just let me know if you want to talk about anything- or talk to your dad, of course.”

Becca laughed.

“You really could,” Mike put in.

“It might be worth it to see his face. In like- a couple years,” she added. “I can buy _anything I want?_” she asked again.

“If it’s purely fun, comes out of the entertainment budget. But it’s pretty easy to justify most things as educational.”

“There’s an entertainment budget?” Becca asked.

“There was not a number given- more of a 'don’t be reckless', but I think we’ve built up some trust by now. Did you want to go to the men’s section and pick me out a shirt?” he offered.

Becca gave him a _ look _ and rolled her eyes intentionally exaggeratedly. “Not unless you actually want one. _ I’d _ rather see you in a unicorn float.”

There wasn’t a unicorn float tube, but there was a mermaid and a shark. “The mermaid’s pretty cool,” she said when she handed it to him. It had a tail out the back of the tube that could be leaned against like a chair back. “Sometimes we could switch.”

“Sounds good,” Mike agreed. Two pairs of goggles later, and they were out the door. Mike debated paying for his own goggles, but he didn’t think Harvey would care. Becca had also begged him into two water guns with a promise that they would never be used inside the house, but they could bring them to the park. And some pool noodles, because they were cheap and he would enjoy showing her how they could be excellent water canons. Becca had refused a life jacket, pointed out that they had those at the pool anyway, and she knew enough to ‘not drown with like dozens of people around’.

**There were water guns purchased. I obtained a promise that they would ‘never, ever’ be used at the apartment, but I can still take them with me tonight if you prefer.**

_ Everything breakable has been moved to my office long ago, and an idiot associate already broke something. I’m not afraid of any water damage Rebecca would cause anymore except in my closet. Or if I bring files home._

**Your associate Seth?**

_ I have no wish for him to be mine, and he doesn’t have a name in my presence anymore. _

**I’m sorry that happened. I’m sure he is as well.**

_ Mostly I don’t want him because he’s irritating, boring, and not a good enough lawyer. _

Mike gave a little laugh.

“Who are you texting?” Becca asked.

“Your dad,” Mike asked. “He doesn’t like his personal associate very much,” Mike supplied the cause of his laugh so that Becca wouldn’t worry it was something about her.

“I don’t think he likes that many people,” Becca answered.

“Then we should feel all the more special,” Mike said.

“Yeah, you should,” she said.

“You too,” Mike pointed out.

“Well, he likes himself a lot, and I’m half him, so he has to like me,” she smiled widely.

“More than that, Becca, more than that.” Mike hoped that Harvey did like himself as much as he appeared to.

They grabbed a quick sandwich lunch at a stand before going back to the pool. Because having to wait thirty minutes or an hour after eating was not scientifically sound.

They had a really nice afternoon, mostly splashing around in the shallow end. Becca talked easily to other children and adults, and Mike got her comfortable with basic skills. She had obviously been in a pool before plenty of times, and wasn’t starting from nothing swimming-wise. After an hour or so, she was floating and moving- enough that he was comfortable that she could get across most of the width of the pool without putting her feet down, and Mike didn’t care if she was doing a technical stroke or not. It was enough that she could get to a side from anywhere and then get out on her own, even where she couldn’t touch her feet, either by pulling herself up or sliding along until she hit a ladder. That was all that swimming was, really.

They cautiously moved into the deep end, Mike moving backwards in front of her while sitting on a noodle just in case. Really, she was doing a not bad front crawl after a few tips. She seemed open to the eight to twelve-year-old swim class that he signed her up for anyway. She liked that she qualified to start at level four, and could do four, five, and six three days in a row if she wanted to. Mike was sure she could handle it.

“Maybe we can show my dad next weekend when I’m done with lessons,” Becca said as they were still slightly damp sitting in the back of a cab going to her home. It was sweet that she included Mike in her weekend plans in her mind, and perhaps he would be.


	3. Nana

*****Harvey*****  
The day that Evelyn Williams moved into a retirement home in Brooklyn, Rebecca and Mike saw her while Harvey was at work. He promised Rebecca that he would take her over the weekend so he could meet her grandmother too. And he wondered how to charm the woman without offending her more. He asked Mike to put in a good word for him. Everyone loved Mike.

And all of those thoughts had led him to be five blocks from work staring at his phone.

“Harvey?” the man on the other end asked. Because he’d let himself do it.

“Marcus,” Harvey replied.

“Good to hear your voice. Everything okay?” he asked.

“I- have a daughter,” Harvey got out.

“Oh- wow- Harvey. Is she… already born?” he asked.

“She’s nine,” Harvey said.

“What?”

“I didn’t know- until a few weeks ago. I could have told you earlier. I- her mom died, and my name was listed, and she lives with me now.”

“Harvey, what can I- what do you need?” Marcus asked.

“Nothing. I have a really great nanny. We’re… doing okay. Good, really, considering. I- watched her ride a bicycle without training wheels for the first time. And dive off the high dive, when she could hardly swim in the shallow water a week before. We have a school picked out that she seems to like. And I- hardly do more than show up at the right times and try not to panic, and our nanny takes care of just about everything else.”

“Don’t let her get away,” Marcus said. Harvey wasn’t sure if it was a joke. “She sounds amazing.”

“He, actually. Unless you were talking about Rebecca. She’s great.”

“Oh, well, either way. Good to have help. I was… scared I’d leave Katie alone, you know?” When he’d had cancer again and Harvey hadn’t known. Which probably made Marcus more understanding of not knowing that Harvey had a daughter for an extra few weeks. But they could be better. They’d been so close as kids. “Can we meet Rebecca? No rush, of course.”

“Yes I- skype soon? With you and the girls and Katie- after you talk to her. And I could… fly the four of you here some weekend?” He almost said Thanksgiving, but Marcus probably spent that with their mother.

“It’s not too far of a drive, we can handle that,” Marcus said.

“I’ll put you up in a nice hotel at least,” Harvey promised.

“Not too nice.”

“Marcus, can you tell Mom for me?” Harvey asked. “I’ll call her… when I’m ready.”

“Yeah, Harvey. Thanks,” he said. “I’m really sorry dad didn’t get to meet Rebecca,” Marcus said.

“Me too.”

“He’d be proud of you. Love you, Harvey.”

“Me too,” Harvey said again.

“You’re going to be a really great dad,” Marcus said.

“I’ll text you tomorrow about the video call.” The whole thing made him remember that he needed to update his will, and not only make it clear that his money was left to Rebecca, but to designate a guardian in the event that his death was before her adulthood. Of course he’d thought of it when he found out the girl existed and her mother was dead but… there had been so many other more pressing needs at the time.

*****Mike*****  
“So, she was really, really pretty,” Becca said when Rachel left, after dropping off something for Harvey so he wouldn’t have to go back to the office after his client dinner.

“She is,” Mike agreed.

“Do you think she’s biracial like I am?” Becca asked.

“I think so,” Mike acknowledged.

“Her hair’s a lot straighter than mine,” Becca said. “She does stuff to it to straighten it, I can tell. It’s really pretty.”

“Becca, your hair is lovely. But- do you want to do something different with it? We can go to any hairdresser you want, but if you want anything semi-permanent, we should talk with your dad about it first,” Mike said delicately.

“My mom wore braids. When she was young, she had an afro. My hair isn’t really like hers though. But it’s not like white people’s either. But braids work, and I like them, at least for now. Mom- said I could get my hair straightened when I was thirteen if I wanted. Twelve if I had all A’s and an extracurricular I liked. Ten for ears pierced, seventeen for a second hole in my ears, and no holes anywhere else while I lived under her roof, and no tattoos until I had wanted the same design for ten years, and nowhere that wasn’t hidden by business clothes, if she had anything to say about it,” Becca said, eyes wet but not crying. “She was big on age guidelines,” she said, brave little girl trying to laugh. She was very mature for her age, and had seen a lot of the world’s realities even before her mother died. “But I knew she was like… she thought natural hair was better, and I guess braids count as natural. I didn’t want to ask that. She thought straightening was a waste of time and… she called it ‘self-hating’, but I don’t think I was supposed to hear that... but I think it’s pretty- and braids take kind of a long time too.”  
He’d had discussions about race with kids before. But every child was different and he wasn’t the childrens’ parent, and he really didn’t want to mess it up with Becca.

“I don’t have personal experience here, and I didn’t know your mom. But sometimes- we have biases that we don’t really want to have, and sometimes they go away, and sometimes they don’t. Your mom wanted you to be happy, and so does your dad. I’m pretty sure if you always had a smile, your hair could be down to your toes and blue and it wouldn’t matter. But unless it was the spray on- one wash-out kind, hair dying definitely counts as a semi-permanent change, which is above my pay grade,” Mike amended.

“Maybe I could get some blue hair feathers?” Becca suggested. “The clip in kind.”

“We can make that happen. Definitely. You know, your dad takes kind of a long time to get ready every morning,” Mike jested. Sometimes Mike got there early. “It’s got to be his hair.”

“I know. He spends like forever in front of the mirror, and it doesn’t look that different when he’s done. And have you seen how many suits he owns?”

“I imagine it’s a lot,” Mike said. He’d certainly seen them in a wide range of respectable colors- which was shades of grey, black, and blue, but there were a lot of them.

“Oh, no, you’ve really got to see them,” Becca said, taking his hand and hurrying him along, cheerful again.  
There were a lot of suits. And getting to the man’s suit closet meant going through his bedroom, which included a very large unmade bed and floor to ceiling windows. In the bedroom. He really shouldn’t be in there.

“Becca, do you want a snack?” Mike asked after Becca had probably touched every suit, shirt, and tie in the closet, and there were a lot of them- some more colorful than Mike expected Harvey wore very often. A purple suit was particularly eye-catching.

“We should have asked Miss Rachel if she wanted to stay for a snack,” Becca suggested.

“That would have been nice. If you’d asked, she might have had time,” Mike said. Mike was a firm believer that children of opposite gender to their single parent grew up just fine, but if Becca wanted to bond with someone she saw herself in, he wouldn’t hold her back from trying. “So long as you wouldn’t be offended if she had other things to do instead.” It wasn’t anyone’s obligation to be a role model.

“You could have asked her to stay,” Becca said with a little too much emphasis.

“If you want us to talk to your dad, maybe he could ask if she could meet you,” Mike said hesitantly. It felt kind of weirdly profiling. “But it wouldn’t reflect anything about you if she didn’t want to,” he added.

“I think she looked like she wanted to meet you,” Becca declared. “I could even play quietly in my room,” she suggested.  
Had Rachel been flirting with him? Mike didn’t think particularly so. She’d done the shocked the-nanny-is-male look, and made a little nice small talk, but maybe there was a little lingering over his eyes. Okay, maybe a hint of flirting- awareness.

“Ah…” Mike let himself react. “Well, don’t you worry about that. I’m not going to ask anyone on a date while doing my job- the best job in the world. And we were having a really good time, weren’t we?”

“Are you married? You don’t wear a wedding ring,” Becca said. Little detective.

“No, I’m not married,” Mike answered.

“Do you have a girlfriend?” she asked next.

“No, no girlfriend either,” Mike answered. “And I’m not looking for one.”

“Boyfriend?” Becca asked without missing a beat. When Mike was nine, had he known men could have boyfriends? Yes, he had known, but he was fairly certain most children hadn’t. But he hadn’t had much interest in kissing boys or girls at that age, and didn’t really care what grown-ups did.

“No, I don’t have a boyfriend either.”

“But if you were looking for someone, would it be for a boyfriend or a girlfriend?” Becca pressed.

“I don’t really think that’s a question I should answer, and you need to leave your dad’s closet if you want an afternoon snack.”  
Becca looked at him for several more seconds. “Okay,” she agreed. “But I’m pretty sure that means you would want a boyfriend, not a girlfriend,” she skipped out of the room.

“What makes you say that? And for the record, I’m not looking for anyone to date right now.” He shouldn’t have asked.

“I don’t know why, but I know I’m right,” Becca said confidently.

“You have astute observation skills, and very high emotional intelligence, but that doesn’t mean you should pry into other people’s social lives,” Mike said, not quite a scold.

“Do you think my dad’s hot?” Becca asked.

Somehow he hadn’t seen that coming. Bad, bad line of logic.

“Even if your suspicions about me were to be true, I would never ask out a client on a date,” Mike answered. “And honestly, most men- especially men with biological daughters- don’t want to date other men. And if you have more questions, you should talk to your dad.”

“What if a client asked you out?” Becca pressed.

“My primary concern would always be for the child’s wellbeing. And now, I believe I have answered far, far too many of your questions. Do you think you still deserve an afternoon snack?” Mike teased. He would say she did, of course.

Becca frowned, “Maybe fruit instead of ice cream,” she conceded overly seriously.

“Ice cream was never on the menu, but I can manage some fruit,” Mike agreed.

*****Harvey*****  
Evelyn Williams looked… smaller than Harvey had imagined. More fragile. Which shouldn’t have been surprising given that he knew she lived in an assisted living facility. But her voice was strong. His own mother… when he had last seen her… had been so much more vibrant. At his father’s funeral. He had known Michelle had been looked older than him, but he didn’t even know how old. He didn’t know the woman’s birthday. He needed to find out, to be there for Rebecca, whatever was needed. Evelyn probably hadn’t been a young mother herself. If she had been, had been able to continue raising Rebecca, Harvey wondered when, if ever, he would have found out. At some point, his old life of being the best closer in the state seemed… lonely. Going out to a bar to pick up a woman when he felt like it… or more often watching sports, tv, or a movie alone on his couch… eating out nearly every meal- which had averaged maybe two a day. Now he had home-cooked leftovers packed for his lunches.

“Sit down, young man,” she instructed. “I don’t like to be towered over.”

Evelyn was sitting up in bed, and Rebecca has sat at her feet after bounding into the room. Harvey took the chair by the bed. It was clean, and the whole building smelled like lemon cleaners, which could have been much worse.

“Harvey’s normal-man tall. Like Mike.”

“Harvey?” Evelyn asked. “Last time you were here, it was ‘my father.” Do you let her call you by your first name?” she asked.

Harvey was surprised and trying not to look it. Rebecca scowled.

“Rebecca can call me whatever she wants,” Harvey declared.

Evelyn nodded slowly, eyeing him. “I raised my daughter without a strong male presence, and she was doing the same for Rebecca. And I supported her in this. She told me you were a man in a bar who drank Macallan, and I never asked for any more specifics or if she knew them,” the woman said. Was this an inappropriate conversation around Rebecca, or something she deserved to hear?

“She was my witness on a case. We saw each other professionally on occasion for months. We went out as… friends to celebrate after we won. I’m sure I did have a Macallan. I didn’t see her again after that,” he admitted.

“Did you call her?” Evelyn asked.

“No. Nor did she call me. I did… ask about her the next time I was at the station,” he said. But how much later had that been? Had he avoided the place? “But she had already moved to Chicago. It was over a decade ago, and I certainly didn’t know she was pregnant with my child,” Harvey said, tensely. He had thought about calling her, or at least sending a well wishing text message. He can’t remember if he actually did or not.

“I’m sure she had her reasons, quality or not, there’s no point in dwelling on it at this point. I like the nanny,” Evelyn said. “I even, selfishly, like that he’s a man, so it doesn’t feel like he’s trying to replace my daughter,” Evelyn said. She was a straight talker.

“Mike is great,” Harvey said. “I don’t believe his gender is at all relevant to the way he interacts with kids or does his job.”

“But are you worried that your daughter might form a closer bond to another man than she does to you?” Evelyn pressed. Maybe too straight of a talker.

“Nana,” Rebecca groaned.

“It is my opinion that Mike was the best person for the job, and my primary concern is Rebecca’s adjustment and growth,” Harvey answered. Wasn’t attachment to people other than themselves a thing parents who didn’t stay at home with their children at all times worried about? Didn’t even stay-at-home parents worry about the child preferring the kindergarten teacher? Mike was a hell of a lot better at this than Harvey was, but… Harvey wasn’t doing too badly himself. Mostly because of Mike.

“He’s a nice young man. They all love him here. His grandmother died three years ago, and he still comes to check on her friends- his friends, really. When he was convincing me to come, he also mentioned people he knows at other facilities- his grandmother’s friends, and staff.”

“Yeah. Heart of gold, that one.”

“I have cousins, Nana,” Rebecca spoke up. “Carly is a year younger than me, and Abby is four. They’re going to come visit us sometime.”

“Oh- nice girls?” Evelyn asked.

“Yeah, we skyped, and we’re going to again tomorrow. Carly’s been texting me, but she has to use her mom’s phone because she doesn’t have one. She really wants one now though, and she wasn’t supposed to get one till high school, but probably way earlier now.”

He should probably apologize to his brother for that. Harvey would put a phone for Carly on his own phone plan without a second thought, but wasn’t sure how his brother would respond to that.

“I haven’t seen them often, but they seem to be very good girls,” Harvey said. Which meant… that he and his brother hadn’t had many conversations during… adulthood. He had sent the girls birthday and Christmas gifts in the last year. Which meant he called their mother and asked what he could send. They might not have known he existed before he halfway reconnected with Marcus.

“Have you kept in touch with your friends?” Evelyn asked. Harvey had asked this before without a satisfactory answer.

“I Facetimed with some of the soccer team when they had a camp. But it’s summer. Mostly we just hung out when we were at school,” Rebecca shrugged.

“What about Brayden?” she asked.

“Brayden decided girls were gross like a year ago. When he’s obviously the gross one. Mrs. Willis wanted to teach me poker,” Rebecca changed the subject. “I bet she could come in here. Do you know how to play poker, Nana?” Becca didn’t seem to have trouble meeting people and making friends, at least not with adults. He needed to ask Mike how she did with other children at the pool. Not that he was at all skilled at cultivating a substantial number of close personal friendships.

“Any kind you want to play, I can,” Evelyn declared. Harvey admired her.

He’d gotten the country club membership, and Mike could bring her there or to a public pool. He had asked if any of the members had children who attended Noland- the school that Mike and Rebecca had picked for her for the fall. They said there were many, but Harvey didn’t know if Rebecca had met any of them. She seemed excited for her new school. She’d shown Harvey the uniforms they’d bought- a mix and match system of plaid skirts and jumpers, khaki pants and white shirts, a dark green suit jacket, a tie, headband, ribbons. And anything in her hair like beads could only be white, dark green, red, or yellow- which were the colors in the plaid- but she had decided that was okay. ‘Purple would clash anyway.’ So she would have to change the current blue beads before then, but she seemed unbothered.

Some evenings the two of them went to a park together and he watched her ride her bike. Sometimes she asked Mike to stay, and he always did. Said it was on his way home, which probably wasn’t true. She had done those swim classes at the YMCA. He’d watched her swim and jump and dive, and try to do a front flip and land on her back, and Mike was rushing for the edge before Harvey had a coherent thought. Because she’d asked if Mike would come that day and he’d agreed, of course. Becca was fine- not drowning, no need to call an ambulance. He'd done far more dangerous things in his childhood. That just seemed like a very long time ago.


	4. Ice Cream

*****Mike*****

“Is there a reason there’s an empty half-gallon of ice cream on the counter that I’m fairly sure wasn’t even in the apartment before?” Harvey asked. “Your previous dinners have had considerably more nutrition involved.”

“There’s a roast and potatoes in the oven with a timer set for you. I was- late starting cooking. We- had a big day- which I’ve been nominated to tell you about, though you might want to talk to Becca about it- maybe in a week.”

Harvey looked skeptical and amused. It was a rather attractive look, but Mike brushed away that thought.

“She started her period today,” Mike sighed.

Harvey Specter blinked three times. He had nice eyelashes. “She’s  _ nine _ ,” he stated.

“That’s- not actually even considered that early onset these days. Fifteen percent of girls start at seven or eight. She’ll be ten soon,” Mike pointed out.

“Did I- get her the wrong  _ milk _ or something?” Harvey asked, disbelievingly. A jug of milk that Mike didn’t buy did appear in the fridge before Mike started buying the same brand and percent.

“It’s most important to understand that there’s nothing wrong with her. Diet can be a factor, though the claim linking it to hormones in milk has been largely disproven, and you have milk too fancy and low fat for extra hormones anyway, I’m pretty sure. She’s not overweight, which is the most common connection. Some think stress can also be a factor, but her body’s been preparing for this for more than a couple months- has probably been changing for this for a couple years- and she’s honestly doing as well as can be expected right now, stress-wise. It can just happen this early for no reason,” Mike led him through. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I- really don’t know how to deal with this. I- my assistant isn’t great with kids, but she could talk to her better than I could- if that’s needed?” Harvey said, lost.

“We’re dealing fine. We bought some pads, and talked about tampons but didn’t buy them because she didn’t want to. She can do everything she would normally do, except swim- unless she uses tampons, which she knows. She knows it will last two to seven days, and she might have another in as soon as three weeks, or it might be a couple months. She’s going to be just fine, she’s just a little embarrassed right now. Her mom had talked to her about periods and puberty in vague terms- and given her a child- appropriate book on it. But- parents- even mothers- often think they have more time, because early periods were less common a generation ago- though it did happen- but if it didn’t happen to them until thirteen or fourteen, it’s not so much on their radar at nine or ten. But she’ll be just fine. She didn’t have pain, which is good, but she knows that cramps are normal and might happen,” Mike laid out factual information, some of which Harvey wouldn’t have previous real reasons to know.

“We had a decent day. Went shopping- she also wanted to look at bras, because her mother had linked those two ideas in her mind, so we bought some of those too. Sports bras and lined camisoles, nothing like Victoria’s Secret, don’t worry. She’d wanted them for a while, she said. She layers clothes because she’s been uncomfortable with her body- which hopefully this will help. We had ice cream, watched Mulan- because it’s great- and she wanted to go to bed early. She’s okay, and you’re going to be okay too,” Mike went for reassuring because Harvey was obviously uncomfortable. “She’s not traumatised, and you won’t be either. Totally normal process. You don’t need ovaries to relate to your daughter. I understand if this isn’t something you’re comfortable with your daughter talking to a man about- well, a man that’s not you- but we did fine today, and honestly, I’ve dealt with far worse.”

“Worse than a  _ nine year old _ ’s first period?” Harvey asked, like he couldn’t imagine worse.

“A sobbing eight-year-old’s first period while her ten and twelve year old brothers were  _ supremely _ unhelpful. We made it through the day okay enough.”

“And then they replaced you with a female nanny?” Harvey asked.

“Yeah, but actually not for why you’re thinking,” Mike admitted, running a hand through his hair. “Praising my quote ‘fathering skills’ turned into questioning why I didn’t have a wife and kids of my own yet… which led to me mentioning that I’m- gay, which isn’t a thing I hide, just not something that comes up in conversations that often. But that led to them not wanting me around their twelve year old son- I’m not honestly sure if that was out of equating homosequality with pedophelia or worried that I would ‘turn’ their son gay… but yeah, I was gone the next day. The little girl cried a lot but eventually attached to the next nanny. I- kept tabs for a bit with the woman they hired after me through the agency.”

“They shouldn’t have fired you,” Harvey said.

“Always nice to hear from an employer,” Mike smiled. He hadn’t thought Harvey would feel otherwise, but it was still a relief. “You know, you’re really pretty easy to talk to,” Mike said. “You’re doing well with Becca. She’s a smart, mature kid.”

“Does she prefer being called Becca?” Harvey asked, looking… a little too vulnerable for Harvey Specter. It made Mike want to fix everything.

“Yeah. Her mother only called her Rebecca when she was in trouble.”

“I don’t feel like I’m doing a great job when I don’t even know her name,” Harvey said.

“I would have mentioned it but she asked me not to. Just- ask if it’s okay if you call her Becca and have a father daughter bonding outing- probably  _ without _ mentioning her period. You should take her shopping, maybe even get her a suit. She loves yours- and your ties,” Mike informed him.

“I- wouldn’t know where to take a child for a suit,” Harvey said, but he was thoughtful.

“I’m sure you can figure it out. She might want some other clothes more- normal clothes, and also she loves looking at fancy dresses but says it’s silly to buy something when she doesn’t have a reason to wear it. You can handle that too.”

“I can find a suitable occasion.”

  
  


*****Harvey*****

Harvey waited until Mike left, the day after the… period incident… maybe in case it went badly.

“Hey,” Harvey said. Which was a weird, awkward start when they had already greeted each other before Mike had left, and Harvey had eaten dinner as they all talked before Mike finally left.

“If this talk is going to include the word ‘period’ can we fast forward through it?” Rebecca asked. Becca. “I know how to deal with it, and that I can’t get rid of it. I even know that some birth control pills make it go away, but Mike already told me I’m too young for them to be healthy unless I have to go to a doctor because my period gets like really painful or heavy, which it isn’t,” his nine-year-old daughter rattled off. There were too many terrifying words.

“I was going to ask what you’d prefer I call you. I thought maybe ‘Becca’…” Harvey said.

She- Becca- smiled widely. Her top teeth were perfectly straight, her bottom ones somewhat crooked. But she was still several years away from braces age, right? She still had some baby teeth? But he’d thought they were years off from periods and bras too.

“That sounds nice, yeah,” Becca agreed. “Do you want me to call you Dad?” she asked back. Throat tightened.

“If you would feel comfortable, that sounds nice,” Harvey echoed her words.

“Well,  _ Dad _ , I want to make a milkshake, and for you to tell me a story about you and Uncle Marcus. Okay?”

“Sounds great, Becca,” Harvey agreed. “Pick out whatever you want.”

He was definitely trying to think of a good story as he pulled out his phone while walking to the kitchen.

_ Becca called me Dad.  _

There hadn’t even been much conscious decision in making the text.

“Texting Mike?” Becca asked, looking up at him with an amused look.

“I’m thinking of a good story,” Harvey said in non-answer.

“While you text Mike,” Becca said.

**That’s really great, Harvey. ** Mike responded just a few seconds later. Was he biking home? Was he being safe? Maybe he’d taken the subway. Harvey hadn’t been looking for his bike at the rack outside, but it was usually there. Mike was vocally against texting while in traffic of any kind, even while walking, except as a passenger. He was fine.

“I multitask well. Okay, so, Marcus was a little brother, so, of course, he wanted to be just like me…”

  
  


*****Mike*****

“What are you doing?” Mike asked.

“Comparing an original and new contract to find the differences,” Harvey answered.

“That’s what I thought. And it seems like something a nineteen-year-old intern should be doing,” Mike said. “Though I’m sure you don’t actually have those, but it could be a summer associate, surely you have those?”

“It’s detailed precision work. And you can’t just go page by page because sections are moved. The last time I had a  _ first year associate _ do it they didn’t notice that three sections were removed entirely.”

“It’s almost ten o’ clock, and you’ve hardly seen Becca all day,” Mike said. Harvey arrived not long before Becca’s typical bed time, and he had brought work home. If I sign some non-disclosure agreement, can I do it for you while you put your daughter to bed?” Mike asked, holding out a hand.

“I’d never hear the end of it if a mistake came down on me and I mentioned my nanny had helped.”

“Not really thinking in depth knowledge of law is needed here. I’ve got memory and reading comprehension in ridiculous excess. And I actually have read-  _ a lot _ of law books. Full disclosure- mostly in a time of my life when I was also breaking a few laws. Not ones that hurt anyone directly, and- I didn’t perceive that anyone was being hurt indirectly, and that time is long past. You can ask me about it if you want,” he spouted. He was past the statute of limitations on faud at this point, but it wouldn’t matter if Harvey took it badly- but Mike didn’t think he would.

Harvey stared at him. Like a puzzle. “Find a clean sheet of paper and write up and sign something that looks like a respectable NDA before you touch anything. And that stack next to the pink binder clip is the original. And if I’ve already made notes on the page, then everything you write is lightly written in pencil,” Harvey added.

“Don’t come out until she kicks you out or you’re sure she’s asleep,” Mike advised. Harvey was studying him.

Mike grabbed the original and made shooing motions with his hand, which was technically far overstepping and he wouldn’t have done it to almost- well maybe any client before. Mike wondered why he’d wanted to do this in the first place. It was the sort of thing he hadn’t wanted to do in years. Probably because Harvey had been frowning at the papers so intently. And Mike wanted Harvey to have more time with his daughter, and this particular activity fit Mike’s particular set of skills better than anyone else he’d encountered.  _ Particular set of skills _ . Like he was Liam Neeson.

Mike quickly wrote up a decent- he thought- non-disclosure statement, even though he knew no one but Harvey would ever see it, and got to work reading the original document in its entirety. Taking longer than he usually would to be exceedingly sure he wouldn’t make a mistake. It had been a few years since he’d really tested his memory very much. But, of course, it was still right there, part of him.

Harvey read to Becca for a very long time, longer than Mike had really expected. And then there was a sound of a goodnight kiss- very cute, and a new development, Mike thought, but Harvey didn’t appear moments later.

Mike had time to read all of the first draft and started marking the second before Harvey reappeared. Harvey’s notes, as far as he’d gotten, had been accurate. Mike circled a comma that hadn’t been in the first draft, which maybe Harvey had noted and not thought important. Maybe it was showing off to notice it. But to Mike it meant that every bit of the contract had been analyzed again, even the parts that didn’t change. Mike also made note that a new sentence Harvey had circled mirrored something from page ten of the original. He’d go over the new copy twice, to change comments as needed.

“You’ve already read this and you’re  _ that _ confident you don’t have to look back at the original?” Harvey asked, hand over the pink binder clip. Mike had moved it to the other side of the table to be out of his way.

“I am,” Mike said, looking up. “You waited until Becca fell asleep,” he said, smiling.

“It- seemed like a good idea when you suggested it. I hadn’t done it before. And it seemed sporting to give you a chance,” Harvey said.

Mike looked back down, sliding over his quickly drafted NDA and the pages he had completed of the document, “I’m going to go over a second time in case I need to change comments,” he said.

“So… you’ve got this handled and I’ll return some client emails?” Harvey offered in the careful way he dealt with anything to do with Becca, rather than the confident, cavalier way he typically talked about work.

“Yeah, I’ve got this,” Mike said easily. “If I stopped now, it would have barely helped you at all, and it won’t take me much longer,” he said.

It was pretty interesting stuff.

He was done probably half an hour later.

“The most important change is tucked into page eleven in a section that it should be entirely unrelated to. Did they really think they’d get away with a back door like that? I’m done. I don’t need to change any of my notes. And these people feel  _ slimy _ .”

Harvey looked through all of his comments.

“You noticed a missing comma sixteen pages in- after putting aside the original?” Harvey checked. He had turned to the corresponding page to check. They were both on page sixteen, though different parts of the page after changes adding and subtracting length.

“Yeah, I’m weird, I know. But they clearly had new eyes with better grammar going over it- I didn’t see any errors in the final. And a few misplaced commas weren’t going to affect the legality, but at least one person in the last revision really cared about being thorough.”

“And you also analyzed issues and used legal terminology in some of these comments,” Harvey said.

“Sorry if I overstepped?” Mike asked, not really thinking that’s where Harvey was going but wanting to cover his base.

“You’re not just a- computer program.”

“AI could get pretty good in our lifetimes. But I’m more than just a nearly perfect memory, yes.”

“Nearly perfect?” Harvey asked.

“I’m not going to remember anything I never really paid attention to or noticed in the first place, it’s impossible. But I’m pretty good at noticing things. Written words way more reliable than anything else. And I can’t as reliably do languages I don’t understand- or anything I don’t understand, but I’m pretty quick. When I was younger I didn’t pay as close attention, so few solid enough memories to recall. And I haven’t done enough thorough testing on long term memories to see if they are at risk of changing each time they are recalled, making false memories. There are studies that indicate this, but  _ I  _ might not fit in the same way, nor might any given individual. And it’s a bit unsettling. And if I was drunk or high, making reliable memories then got pretty questionable- though I could usually still recall just about anything I wanted. But I don’t do that anymore- get very drunk or at all high- haven’t in years.”

“Do I need to know what laws you were breaking?” Harvey asked, cracking open a beer.

“I smoked a lot of pot- and the underage drinking- which reminds me, you really shouldn’t have open, unmarked liquor bottles within easy access of a child, even one as good as Becca. It’s temptation, and when she starts having friends over, you won’t know any of them as well as you want. Bad friends- I have some experience with, which isn’t to say that I blame my past mistakes on anyone but myself. So… yeah. I never dealt, but a friend- my best friend- did and I didn’t turn him in. Really good friend when I was a kid, really crap friend later. Almost helped him deal once, but didn’t. But I was always going to be smart the stupid way,” Mike said. Trevor was stupid the stupid way. It didn’t really make Mike better. His ripple effect might have hurt more people.

“Just pot, and you don’t even do that anymore?” Harvey asked. Pot was much less of a big deal now then when he was smoking it. It was medically legal in New York now, and not that hard to get a script for someone who wanted to go the legal route. And decriminalized on top of that. Mike still didn’t want to go back to it. It was fine for some people, sure, but he only used it when he wanted to make himself stupid.

“No other drugs. But I’m  _ really _ good at taking tests. Helped some kids cheat in high school for some pocket money. Nothing too big. But I got caught in college selling answers to a test- kicked out of school. That was stupid. But it was easy money, and there was stuff pretty interesting to learn. Started taking ACTs and SATs- because I still looked like I belonged in high school, mostly athletes at first, who couldn’t get in. Then rich kids who wanted to get into schools better than them. Then GRE, GMAT, LSAT, MCAT, PCAT- anything that people took often enough for it to be worth my learning it. I could get any score I wanted to get. I got a lot of people into schools they didn’t deserve to go to. I figured it wasn’t so bad, because they’d fail out if they weren’t good enough, or at least they’d fail the boards. I wasn’t  _ making _ anyone a doctor, just giving them the chance to try without anxiety over one giant test. That’s what I told myself. It wasn’t until later that the guilt set in for the people who should have been able to get those spots,” Mike said. He did feel bad about it.

“Then I was offered a lot of money to pass the law bar exam- someone who looked reasonably similar to me. He’d paid me a lot of money a few years before for a perfect LSAT. He knew I could do it. I knew I could do it. I said I’d think about it. Studied for it- a fair amount anyway. Turned him down. I hope he failed. I didn’t take another test for someone else again. Haven’t smoked since then either. Ended up talking to my grandmother a lot. Started watching one of her friends’ grandkid, like I did a lot growing up. But this kid had just lost his father. Figured out I liked working with kids.  _ Loved it _ . I didn’t even want to smoke after that. And I haven’t had more than three drinks in a night since then either. I don’t judge, just not for me. Haven’t looked back. Got references, agencies, did the CPR training, the works. Got approved as a foster parent just- because that looks good, and maybe one day... Being a nanny doesn’t make as much money as- whatever I’d maybe be doing if I hadn’t been an idiot teenager and gotten myself kicked out of college- but I can’t imagine finding something I loved more. So- do I still have a job?” 

“I’m trying to refrain from voicing my daughter’s question about wasting your brain as a nanny,” Harvey admitted.

“Yeah, well, maybe in your case nature won out and she really got half your mind.”

“Talking to you just makes me want to say rude things I shouldn’t say, but I actually feel bad just for thinking them,” Harvey said.

“Eh, just tell me anyway,” Mike declared. “Guarantee I’ve heard worse.”

“It- seems a shame that you- won’t spread your genes to the next generation? You could use a surrogate,” Harvey pointed out.

“If we ignore all the massive costs of surrogacy.  _ Maybe _ I’d get a smart kid with a crazy memory. Probably not. My parents were all-around normal. And even then, she’d probably want to be a- painter or something, and having a perfect memory would just be a fun little diversion. A small part of who she would be. It’s  _ enjoyable _ to reread a good book in your head at any time, but it doesn’t have to dictate your life. I- might foster one day, with hopes of adopting if the situation allowed. On all the important things, I tend to lean towards the side of nurture. But I’m no expert. I do know that Becca’s taking cues from you all the time now.”

Harvey gave a small, thoughtful nod.

  
  


*****Harvey*****

“You’re distracted. Is everything alright at home?” Jessica asked him.

“Better than I would have thought possible,” Harvey agreed.

“Good. But, in that case, get your mind back to work,” Jessica decided.

“I’ve met the smartest person I’ll probably ever meet, and am not quite sure how to deal with that.”

“ _ Harvey Specter _ ,” Jessica pondered. “Marry her?” she suggested lightly.

“It’s nothing like that.  _ He’s _ my nanny.”

“Are you wishing you’d hired a female nanny so you wouldn’t be feeling uncomfortable admiring the person helping you raise your child?” Jessica asked.

“ _ No _ ,” Harvey said with maybe too much force. “It’s not like that at all. He’s-  _ objectively _ brilliant. He has a perfect memory. He was once reciting to Becca a book he read once when he was her age. And he has an amazing analytical mind. And he’s a nanny because it’s what he loves best. And he’s good at it. He could have been anything. Could have been a brilliant lawyer. He got a perfect LSAT- and MCAT, and any other test he spent any time studying,” Harvey went on. He didn’t know if Mike had actual perfect scores on the others, but he knew he could have. And Mike’s teenage decisions might have made those paths difficult, but he could have managed.

“Then I believe you’re making a  _ friend _ ,” Jessica said easily. “And that’s a strange feeling for you. You don’t have many of them, and all of them are strange relationships.”

“Are you any different?” Harvey asked.

“I have friends you don’t know about,” Jessica said. “You have clients, and coworkers, and business contacts, and women you sleep with and usually don’t see again.”

“You can be friends with coworkers and clients,” Harvey protested.

“Oh yes, Harvey. And I value our friendship. And now we are-  _ nearly _ equals, these days. You and Louis both value your rivalry, and it has moments of kinship. Donna runs your life, and can be depended upon for everything. But you rarely see any of us outside of work. You have associates who look up to you and people who do work for you- Ray- Rene. And you and I both would have expected this man to fit into that category, but he doesn’t, does he? If you need to take some time for your daughter, take it. But you can handle a new  _ friendship _ without it distracting from your work, can’t you?

“Of course,” Harvey answered.

“Hand him a beer. Tell him you value him. Don’t make it sound like you’re flirting- unless you want to be,” Jessica added.

Harvey had a very productive rest of his day. He truly didn’t think about Becca or Mike at all until his alarm went off. It told him to wrap up everything up and go home if there wasn’t an emergency. Because he had a daughter now, not just a job. He could compartmentalize not enough or too much.

Mike was teaching Becca how to swing dance when Harvey got home.

“Hey,” Mike greeted with a smile, still moving. Big band music playing.

“Swing dance?” Harvey asked.

“My grandmother taught me,” Mike said in explanation. Probably not so energetically.

Becca’s braids were loose around her face in her most recent style, and had blue beads and feathers in them, instead of close to her head to the nape of her neck like when they’d met. They hit her face every time she twirled. She looked younger than usual. She was so happy and laughing that it hurt Harvey’s heart.

Was that his own happiness… jealousy?

Mike was so good with her.

“Dad? You don’t have to shut the door all the way,” Becca told him that night. “Unless you are going to be loud, and then you can, but I don’t need to lock it.”

“You sure?” Harvey asked.

“Yeah, I figure if there’s a fire or something, you’d need to be able to come get me. Or- you might be one of those dads that wants to wake me up with a kiss on the forehead instead of knocking on the door. I haven’t locked it in a while, but I don’t think you’ve noticed,” Becca told him. Harvey’s throat stuck.

“If your door is ever closed, I promise I won’t open it without permission unless it’s an emergency,” Harvey promised.

“I know. I won’t open your door either if it’s shut,” Becca said back. Harvey resolved to never go to sleep with his door closed.

  
  


*****Harvey*****

“If you wanted to have a friend over, that would be okay,” Becca said. “I sleep with earplugs anyway. I have for years.”

“I see most of my friends at work every day,” Harvey told her carefully. Did she think she was stopping him from having house parties? Or surely she wasn’t...

“I was  _ trying _ to be subtle.  _ Friend _ is a code word,” the nine-year-old girl informed him. “Mom would have ‘friends’ over sometimes. Like one friend over at a time, and always a man. She didn’t like it when one of them showed up at breakfast, because they weren’t supposed to meet me. So I wouldn’t mind if you did- but if they stayed for breakfast I’d have to like him or her.”

“Duly noted,” Harvey said. What the hell was he supposed to say? He wished Mike was there to… deal with it while Harvey did literally anything else, but that wasn’t a helpful impulse. It was a Saturday and he didn’t have any planned work obligations, so he had had Becca all day and would the next day as well, unless something urgent came up. Weekends were good. Usually quiet. They’d had… Harvey would have to stop to count the number of weeks Becca had been there by then, because he had stopped counting. They had had a peaceful day. They had eaten leftovers that Mike had made for lunch, and Harvey ordered in pizza for dinner. Becca had been in her room for most of it, but the door had been open, and he’d checked in casually a few times. Becca had shown him Minecraft, which she had mentioned a few times before, and Harvey told her about the buildings an architectural client had made recently. She’d seemed somewhat interested.

And now she had brought up his  _ sex life _ , or lack thereof lately.

“I’m going to watch one episode of Powerpuff girls and then you tuck me into bed?” Becca proposed.

“Yeah, sounds good,” Harvey agreed.

Harvey had the distinct impression that Becca wanted to leave him alone to think. And Harvey found himself staring at his phone.

_ When did kids get so worldly? When  _ I _ was nine years old, I lived for baseball and didn’t pay attention to much else. Hell, I still thought my parents had a happy marriage. Becca just told me that I could have ‘friends’ over and she sleeps with earplugs, and that ‘friend’ was a code word and she was being subtle. But if they stayed for breakfast, she had to approve of ‘him or her’. What the hell do I say to that? _

He’d just spilled the entire conversation to get Mike’s impression. So Mike could tell him what to do. Because he needed that now.

Harvey didn’t have to wait long for a response.

**Kids notice everything way younger than we expect. She might be worried that she’s disrupting your life and happiness. Just try to show her that you’re happy. Did the conversation go any further? If you don’t mind my asking.**

_ I said ‘Duly noted’ and she left the room. Where was the conversation supposed to go? _

**Nowhere, you did just fine.**

_ What were you expecting? _

_ Sorry, lawyer instinct mixed with insecure new parent. Have a good night. _

Harvey typed the second message furiously, and then wondered if it sounded even weirder. He was probably just imagining something that wasn’t even in Becca’s head.  _ Him or her. _ It was just being appropriately sensitive to a diversity of people- which apparently nine-year-olds knew how to do these days.

**I didn’t think I needed to say anything, and it’s nothing I haven’t gotten before. Kids are curious about adult relationships. They see examples in tv, movies, and everywhere in life. And if anything personal comes up, I just give non-committal answers. Becca asked me some pretty pointed questions a while ago about if I wanted a girlfriend or a boyfriend, and if I’d ever date a client.**

_ My nine year old daughter flirted with you? _

That was more alarming than anything. Though Mike probably had plenty of experience dealing with little girls’ crushes, and would know how to squelch it without ruining the nanny relationship.

**No, she definitely wanted me to ask you out.**

That… made  _ more _ sense… but...

**She wasn’t subtle. Asked if I thought you were hot. I probably should have mentioned it at the time. Sorry. I deflected and she eventually let it drop. I thought she would have talked to you about it a while ago if she was still thinking about it.**

Harvey had typed out ‘Do you think I’m hot?’ just to look at it. And then deleted it carefully. It had been minutes since he’d gotten the last message.

**I’m sorry.**

Mike had sent the last three messages. He was worried, and it was wrong of Harvey to let him worry.

_ Thank you for telling me. That actually sounds more normal than her being worried that I hadn’t gotten laid since she moved in. _

_ Ignore I said that. _

_ I mean, I’m sorry I said that. _

**It’s fine, Harvey.**

_ I’m sorry Becca made you uncomfortable. _

**Don’t worry about it. Uncomfortable, definitely. But with some distance, it was also pretty cute and flattering. She’s a really good kid. You’re a lucky man.**

He didn’t deserve any of it. He never thought he’d be a father, and it hadn’t really bothered him.

_ I couldn’t function without you. _

That sounded way too needy. He’d been going for appreciative and overshot.

**Not true, but I appreciate you saying it.**

Harvey stared at it, wondering if the conversation was over.

_ We okay? _

That was casual, right?

**Yeah, Harvey, we’re good. Have a good night.**

  
  


*****Mike*****

Mostly, Mike was glad he wasn’t fired.

Maybe he’d almost let a nine-year-old convince him that it was a sane idea to have an extremely inappropriate  _ crush _ on a hot, heterosexual male client. He probably wouldn’t have even thought about it. Before, he had just noticed that the man was hot in the same way an actor was hot. Not like a potential anything. Shit.


	5. Growing

*****Mike*****

“So, birthday on Monday, which I believe means the weekend is all yours. Plans?” Harvey asked Becca when he came in the Monday a week before Becca’s birthday. It seemed sometimes that Harvey tried to have big conversations in the mornings and evenings while Mike was still around. Mike told himself it was just being efficient. Mike was almost certainly going to hear about it anyway, and sometimes it impacted his life.

“What were you thinking?” Becca asked suspiciously.

“Dress shopping- or suit shopping- or both, and fancy dinner. Steak and lobster? Or whatever you wanted. On your actual birthday or before. And if you like, we could make dinners out a regular thing. It can’t hurt to have some formal wear for a variety of occasions, and a tenth birthday seems like a great place to start.”

“I want to get my ears pierced,” Becca declared. Ten had been the age for that in her mother’s house, Mike remembered.

“Okay, sounds good,” Harvey agreed easily.

“Don’t go to Claire’s or anywhere kid-targeting with a piercing gun,” Mike warned.

Harvey’s look prompted more information.

“It can be damaging and those guns can’t be sterilized. Anywhere with hollow needles and certified professionals is good… generally a tattoo and piercing salon.”

“Okay,” Harvey agreed, relatively unphased. “Saturday?”

“Can Mike come?” Becca asked, looking at Mike. Mike’s eyes darted to Harvey.

“Is it because Mike is a better hand-holder?” Harvey asked with a smile. Shit. Did that bother Harvey? It probably bothered Harvey.

“I have two hands,” Becca answered easily.

“Well, if you want to infringe on Mike’s weekend, you’ll have to ask him,” Harvey said.

“Dress shopping and ear piercing, and zoo,” Becca announces, looking at Mike for his reaction. “That’s what I want. Will you come? You can skip dress shopping if you want, but you know you’d like it. And Dad won’t know what he’s doing.”

“_ Excuse me? _ I have excellent taste in high fashion. Mike wears those jeans every day,” he said.

“I have _ several _ pairs of jeans,” Mike protested. He had four. That was more than enough pairs of jeans. He only had that many because his job was sometimes pretty dirty and he didn’t love frequent laundry. “Some of them even look different,” Mike added. Only two were the same right now, but he liked them, and biking did wear them out, and he didn’t want to change into athletic shorts for every ride.

“Dark wash skinny jeans. All of them,” Harvey said dismissively. He’d noticed Mike’s clothes.

“Hey, I know what I look good in,” Mike said. “Becca, I would love to spend Saturday with you and your dad. Bronx Zoo?” he asked.

“Duh, baby tigers,” Becca said.

“Who might not be on display,” Mike reminded her.

“Yeah, whatever, it’s the best either way. The biggest,” she pointed out.

“I won’t argue the logic there because I happen to agree with the conclusion,” Mike said.

*****Harvey*****

Becca tried on dresses from the juniors section in the large department store she’d asked to go to, not the children’s section. And Harvey was not a good judge of ages of children, but she looked a lot older than ten, could have passed as… twelve? Thirteen? Oh, _ hell _ . He hadn’t had really been confronted with it until she was in dresses designed for older girls. And her school had fifth through eighth graders all classified as ‘middle schoolers’, using the same buildings, walking the same hallways. She’d be one of the youngest fifth graders, wouldn’t she? They hadn’t even _ discussed _ homeschooling. Mike could have taught her anything easily. She was bright. What were New York’s regulations on homeschooling? He’d never had reason to investigate it, but it seemed like it should have at least been discussed before sending her somewhere that had thirteen and fourteen year old boys within throwing distance. Public schools still knew that ten year olds were elementary students, didn’t they? Why had he thought she needed a fancy private school? _ He _ had never had one.

Harvey wouldn’t let himself be one of those stereotypical fathers who greeted a boy wanting to take out his daughter with a shotgun. Particularly because he’d never even held one. Harvey wasn’t opposed to gun ownership rights in the abstract. In practice, he was certain that he shouldn’t own one, and that everyone who _ wanted _ to own one probably shouldn’t either. And he also believed that threats scared away the nice, timid boys, but not the delinquents. But Harvey had baseball bats, and maybe should find a reason to display one. He could get an autographed one just to put somewhere visible. He wouldn’t actually swing it, and it would be a good conversation piece. And Becca wasn’t even ten yet. For two more days. She certainly wouldn’t be dating for… years, right? Multiple years. Harvey couldn’t really picture that far in the future. Thirteen, fourteen, maybe. What age did kids stop having nannies? _ God, no. _

Harvey was glad Mike had come dress shopping. The man did know exactly what Becca liked. He proudly presented dresses he’d found with pockets, which Becca also delighted in, and he presented coordinating jewelry (which was probably made of plastic, but Becca seemed to love it) and purses. Becca had gotten her first ‘real’ purse the day after the half gallon of ice cream incident, and Harvey said it was nice, and swore to himself that he would never, ever go through it. But Mike also brought coordinating sweaters and half-jackets, and shrugs, and whatever else they called them, and Becca appreciated all the different looks. Good. He would gladly buy _ all _ the sweaters. She was not even ten yet, and there were _ spaghetti straps _ and other things.  
  


*****Mike*****

When he and Harvey were out in public with Becca, people often made the same assumption as that woman at the park weeks ago now who had come out and say it. They thought that Harvey and Mike were a couple, and Becca was their adopted daughter. And that idea might be reinforced by Becca not being just white- even though she looked obviously like Harvey to Mike. Their eyes were exactly the same medium brown for one. And the same shape, except Harvey had little crinkled wrinkles around his- the only wrinkles the man had, because forehead lines didn’t count. Mike or Harvey- ideally Harvey- needed to ask Becca how she felt about that assumption and what they should say to strangers, if anything. But, Harvey didn’t even seem to be noticing it happening.

The way the sales clerk during dress shopping had smiled at them, and the manager did as well when he joined them. Big, wide smiles.

Even when Becca clearly called them ‘dad’ and ‘Mike,’ people assumed he and Harvey were together. People didn’t say anything, or it was vague. Lots of smiles, which was really nice to see- better than the homophobic type. There was the mother who hurried her own children away very quickly while looking in any other direction. But he could easily take averted eyes and some disgusted looks any day if they didn’t say anything around Becca.

The most direct comment of any kind in Becca’s hearing was the three hundred pound very tattooed man with the shaved head at the tattoo shop getting ready to pierce Becca’s ears. His name was Rob, and he was the wide smile type.

“If you close your eyes and squeeze tight on your daddies’ hands, it will be over before you know it,” he coached. Meaning she should hold his hand and Harvey’s. Technically it could have meant both of Harvey’s hands from the words, but it didn’t from the looks.

“I’m not afraid,” Becca protested, but she held out her hand towards Mike anyway. Mike grabbed it without hesitation. They’d joked about this earlier, but if she wanted to hold his hand for comfort in an uncertain situation, he would never turn it down. It didn’t have anything to do with what the artist said.

Mike glanced over at Harvey, but Harvey was busy looking at all of the equipment in the room- almost all of which wouldn’t be used for a simple earlobe piercing.

“And how does she keep it from getting infected?” Harvey asked.

“_Dad_, I already looked it up and told you, and then you googled it yourself, and you kept reading stuff like _ forever_,” she complained.

“The American Academy of Dermatology suggests rubbing alcohol twice a day, but other articles I read said that was damaging to skin in repetition.”

“A little rubbing alcohol maybe once a day wouldn’t hurt her beyond the sting, but isn’t needed if everything stays clean. Some saline solution- or just plain salt water, twice a day will clean them fine if nothing’s too dirty.”

“I read that 14 karat yellow gold is best, especially for her first pair,” Harvey jumped to next. He was like a newborn’s parent being more scared of the shots than the kid. Who probably read that in something written by a jeweler.

“Can I have white gold, because I like it better?” Becca asked.

“It’s made with nickel, which can be irritating and is a common allergy,” Harvey rattled off.

“And if I’m _ not _ allergic then I just eliminate that fashion choice for no reason?” Becca asked.

“I’m sure there’s a scratch test. We can get you tested, but now doesn’t seem like a good way to find out when contemplating something that’s going to be stuck inside you for two months, and it's an allergy that can come from repeated exposure,” he said.

“Six weeks,” Becca corrected.

“_If _ they’re fully healed,” Harvey shot back. It was two argumentative natures, and a protective nature in Harvey that didn’t surprise Mike at all, but it wasn’t really convenient at the moment.

Rob was giving Mike a look that said he expected Mike to deal with this.

“You have medical grade stainless steel? As another safe option?” Mike asked, even though he knew the answer.

The man- Rob- gave Mike another look. Like ‘oh hell, that poor girl has two overprotective worrying fathers.’ Mike almost explained that he had taken multiple little girls to get their ears pierced before- after explaining that he was a nanny so it wouldn’t sound weird. Though it was weird enough that a parent would want to miss that experience with their child. But Mike didn’t feel a strong enough need to explain himself. Also, Mike had had an earring for twelve days. He didn’t need to explain that either.

“Yeah, got a dozen options. A lot cheaper than the gold too, which I’ve only got in plain round studs.”

“I’m not worried about the _ cost _,” Harvey said quickly.

“Do you have some stainless steel studs with fake diamonds?” Becca asked.

Harvey made a face that Becca couldn’t see, though she probably expected it.

“Yeah, clear ones?” the man just asked.

“Yes, please,” she said. “To go with everything,” she explained.

Harvey would probably get medical grade stainless steel earrings with real diamonds made if Becca asked. Rob held up a case with the options, and Becca picked the larger of the fake diamonds.

It was maybe two minutes later when the first ear was already done, earring quickly following the needle. Harvey had stood still in time to hold her other hand. Becca had squeezed them both tightly.

“That wasn’t so bad,” she said. “And now I have to finish.”

“I think you _ want _ to do the other ear, and will be glad you did,” Mike said. “But you don’t have to do anything. You can also let it grow back in later if you change your mind.”

“Thanks, but I can handle it,” she said, looking up at Mike with a smile.

Becca did great, and so did Harvey.

Becca dragged him over to look at hoops and dangle earrings that she could have after her ears healed. He’d probably only get gold or stainless steel ones anyway.

“So, you’re the _ less _ neurotic parent?” Rob muttered at him.

“I’m the nanny,” Mike corrects, because it was a lot at this point.

“Oh,” he said, confused for a moment. “Sorry, man,” he said.

“A lot of people make the assumption.”

“The girl’s mother isn’t going to come in here screaming about holes in her little girl’s ears when she has her on Monday or next weekend or whatever?”

Mike gave a careful glance to Becca. “Not an issue in this case,” he said.

“Good. Or- bad. None of my business. Sorry. Sorry for you, man,” piercing artist Rob said again.

“What?” Mike asked, because- what? Becca was the one without a parent.

“Nothing, man, have a good day,” he said, and went up to the register to talk to the woman there who was playing on her phone.

They got a lot of smiles at the zoo.

Some especially interested ones from people who knew Mike, at least in passing, by face and occasionally by name by a few of the more observant staff and volunteers. Mike went to the zoo a lot with different kids, especially with one off sitting jobs. It was a great value for the parents for the kid to get an expensive and educational zoo trip while they were being babysat. It had gotten to the point that the people at his service would mention it as an option when matching him with kids. And the kids always loved it, and Mike did too. He’d only been once to the Bronx Zoo since starting with Becca, which was quite infrequent for Mike in the last several years. But, they’d been to all the other zoos in the city once too.

Becca hadn’t wanted to go to the Children’s Zoo section on their last visit, because she’d been in an ‘I’m not a little kid’ mood. Mike had only been a couple times since it reopened early in the summer after a major renovation, and it was a sight. They could get pretty close to the new giant anteater and the two-toed sloth. And there were all the normal petting zoo animals. Zoey, the keeper in the petting zoo, let him hold a baby goat, and Becca pet the thing with a wide grin. The trick was to hold them securely around the middle and not give them anything under their feet to push off of.

“Mike, will you ride the camel with me?”

“It says one adult or three kids at a time,” Mike pointed out. “I’ll ask though.”

“You’re skinny, and I’ve tossed three fat kids up there before plenty of times. The camel will be fine,” the young man running the exhibit said.

“Harvey?” Mike checked.

“Get up there,” the other man encouraged, already paying for two tickets. Harvey enjoyed spending money that Becca liked, so Mike wouldn’t object. Almost everything else was included in Mike’s membership, even the typically premium exhibits, except for a dollar for food to feed the goats.

Becca wanted Dippin’ Dots after the camel ride, so Harvey suggested dinner first. They had hotdogs, which suited Mike perfectly, and then Becca got her Dippin’ Dots. It was an interesting strategy, having wide brand recognition, but most of their physical locations being somewhere special to children. It had been a good day. Mike left for home from the zoo, after a tight hug from Becca, and a smile and nod from Harvey.

  
  


On Becca’s actual birthday on Monday, they had agreed to swimming and a trip to the beauty salon for white beads with silver colored accent pieces that Mike checked out with the school that it was fine with too, if Becca wanted to keep them in more than a couple weeks until school started. And a trip to her grandmother’s. Evelyn gave Becca a robe, because grandmothers are always worried about people being cold, in Mike’s experience. It showed their love. And Mike gave her several books that he knew she’d enjoy.

“You should come to dinner,” Becca said, as if it was the first time she’d said it instead of the fifth.

“You should have some special time with your dad,” Mike answered for the fourth time. “Unless you don’t want to for some reason?” Mike checked, just in case.

Becca rolled her eyes with exaggeration, “Yeah, I can go out to dinner with my _ dad _. Duh. It’s just better when you’re there,” she said easily. Two months ago, all three of them had been strangers.

“I wouldn’t have anything to wear.”

“Harv- dad would have bought you stuff,” Becca said.

“That would have felt uncomfortable. I can buy my own clothes.”

“Feeling comfortable all the time is overrated,” Becca made a very strange statement for a kid, wasn’t it? Mike wondered if it was something someone in her life had said before. “He would have done it,” Becca pointed out. Which, Harvey would have if Becca had asked.

“Maybe next time,” Mike said.

*****Harvey*****

Becca has picked out a ‘slinky, sparkly’ blue dress, and a fluffy white faux fur ‘capelet’ to wear that evening. It was the fanciest dress she’d picked at the store. She seemed quite happy with all of it.

“It’s my birthday,” Becca informed the waitress on her first visit over. “Is there free dessert for the birthday girl?”

“Becca, you can get whatever dessert you want after dinner, and can take home any leftovers for tomorrow,” Harvey said easily.

“Just tell me what you want, and I’ll see what I can do,” the waitress smiled. Megan, from her name tag. She was an objectively pretty young woman. probably mid to late twenties.

“I want cheesecake and some chocolate sauce on it if you have it, and a big steak and a lobster tail,” Becca announced, apparently ready to order already. They had looked at the menu together before picking the restaurant.

“I’ll have the ribeye, medium rare. And two waters. Becca, do you want the ribeye too- medium well?” 

“Yes, please. And ketchup,” she said. Harvey grinned.

“Of course. And how old are you today?” the waitress asked. Megan- Harvey had to look at her nametag again.

“Ten!” Becca declared happily.

“That’s a special one. Happy Birthday! I’ll get your orders in.”

“Thank you!” Becca responded.

“Yes, thank you,” Harvey said as well. The woman gave him a wide smile. Her lipstick was bright red.

“You should have asked Mike to come,” Becca said when they were alone.

“Oh? Perhaps he has plans already. I’m surprised you didn’t ask him yourself. He would have been welcome,” Harvey said.

“I did ask him, and he said he didn’t want to intrude on father daughter time, even though I _ told _ him he wouldn’t be.”

“He is welcome,” Harvey reiterated, wondering how he was supposed to feel. He had been trying to do away with the notion of ‘supposed to’, but that didn’t always work.

“I bet he’d come if _ you _ asked him next time,” Becca said firmly.

“And what makes you think I’d be half as convincing as you?” Harvey shot back.

“Because then he’d know we both want him here. And you have a charming smile,” Becca said.

“I’m not sure my smile would go very far with Mike,” Harvey said, firmly denying where Becca might be taking this conversation. She’d never said anything to him about it before, but he had heard her insinuations from Mike.

“It would- obviously. But whatever. Present, present!” she clapped her hands.

“There’s something else at home,” Harvey said, pulling out a longer, thin box from his inner pocket.

“It’s _very_ pretty," she said, holding up the necklace. "It will look good with everything, like my earrings."

“Just be careful not to let the chain break- and to pick up all the pieces if it does- because that one’s real,” Harvey said.

“You got me a _ real _ white gold and diamond necklace- did you consult with Mike on this?” Becca asked.

“No… why would I need to do that?” Harvey said, as the smiling waitress arrived with waters and a wine menu for Harvey.

“Because he’s good with kids and has common sense to know that you don’t get a ten year old gold and diamonds. But it’s sweet. Thank you, Dad, it’s really pretty.”

“I did mention I was looking at jewelry,” Harvey added. “No wine tonight, thank you,” he said to the waitress.

“Then he should have _ known _ to ask specifics. At my age, 'fancy' means silver and amethyst, or something like that. Like twenty five dollars on sale. If I wore this to middle school, everyone would think it was fake anyway- unless everyone’s really fancy there I guess?”

“It is small enough to meet the jewelry guidelines,” Harvey put in. He had looked at them.

“Thanks, Dad. I really like it,” she said like she was humoring him. “Is it lab created? Cheaper, just as pretty, and better for the world and people? You know- something to keep in mind whenever you’re next diamond shopping for someone?”

“It is certified conflict free,” Harvey told her. A client connection. Were all children so connected to world issues these days?

“Thank you, Dad.”

“I haven’t even told you the surprise for next weekend- if you want them to come.”  
  


*****Harvey*****

“You’re here early,” he said in greeting Mike, the morning after saying goodbye to Marcus and his family the night before. It had been fun, seeing the girls running around. Ten, eight (and a half) and four. Harvey had left work early on Friday, and they’d all met at the apartment. Marcus and Katie seemed to really like Mike and Becca. They’d all gone out to dinner that evening at a casual burger place, and then Harvey hadn’t seen Mike for the rest of the weekend. Which was a shame, because he would have probably been a much better tour guide around the major city sights. They’d done the Statue of Liberty, Time Square, and various parks with play equipment for the kids, and room to throw a baseball for him and Marcus. They should have brought a bat, but Katie hadn’t wanted them to be competitive.

“Yeah. Becca’s school starts soon, and I wanted to touch base,” Mike said. Harvey didn’t like the sound of that.

“She seems excited. She’s tried on every combination of that uniform twice by now.”

“So… just wanted to get a grasp on what hours to expect as I’ll… have to take other clients when the hours are lower. I want to be there as much as I can for Becca, of course. Just… practicality, you know. I haven’t accepted anything else yet. I’ve actually put in applications at some nurseries, because they would be mostly hours Becca’s at school anyway, though I prefer individual work. I just… wanted to keep you informed.”

Mike was going to get another job.

“Whatever hours you submitted last week, I’ll pay you that all year, if you can make Becca your top priority.”

“Harvey that’s… too much.”

“I have money, and your attention is what’s best for Becca.”

“But- you’re also paying tuition to an expensive school.”

“I have the money,” Harvey repeated. “I charge clients a ridiculous amount per hour. Becca needs you. I- need you. And this is a problem I can fix. _ Please _ let me fix it,” he said, ridiculously honest. “You’ll have more free time and the same money.”

“Okay... we’ll try it. Something else logical might work out, a reasonably timed job that understands I have another priority. I’ve had to take one client’s kids along to pick another kid up at school before, and it works out. I’d still be there for Becca. You really don’t have to do this.”

“Do that if you want to, not because you have to,” Harvey said. “If you… don’t like the free hours. Would be entirely understandable. Or you could… go back to school. Study… anything you wanted. Or volunteer or- be a kickass paralegal. Anything you wanted.”

“Okay, yeah, we’ll try this,” Mike said. “Should I come by in the mornings before school?”

“If you have time that morning,” Harvey answered.

“You’re theoretically going to be paying me like I’m working full time when I won’t be. I have time for anything.”

“That would be great,” Harvey answered.

“I can- do grocery shopping and other errands and cooking while Becca’s at school,” Mike said tentatively.

“Good. Great,” Harvey said. That made sense, right? Becca wouldn’t have to be around for the boring stuff while she was in school all the time.

*****Mike*****

It was strange being at Harvey and Becca’s place without Becca there- without either of them there, but it still would have been strange with just him and Harvey. In the last week, he’d put off doing anything maintenance wise that wasn’t needed, so he was doing it today. Cleaning stuff he wasn’t exactly expected to do, but did anyway, because he was on the clock, so why not? Cleaning the kitchen and bathrooms, laundry, dishes, meal prep for lunches. It made the first day go past quickly without him even finishing it all as well as he wanted.

Mike went and picked her up, meeting a car there. Because he was on the clock, and they couldn’t be assured of the same driver every day from the car service to put one trustworthy person on the list to pick her up every day, even Ray. And because Mike wanted to see her and hear about school- the babble of what kids seem nice, and which teachers, and how she has a different teacher for every single class instead of almost all of them with her homeroom teacher like at her old school. And she had two men teachers, when she’d never had a man teacher before, except for PE, which didn’t count. And the PE teacher she had this year was a woman, and they were going to do some basic gymnastics in the second unit.

Mike hoped that Harvey got to hear the excited chatter too.

By the third afternoon, Mike was contemplating turning on Harvey’s television. He didn’t really need to be there.

Mike’s heart could have stopped when he got the text.

**Can you come get me at school?**

_ On my way now. Anything I can do before I get there? Should I call? _

**I’m fine. Just come. The school said I could leave if you got me. It’s only one class anyway. I can wait in the counselor’s office if you can’t come early.**

_ I’ll be there as quickly as I can, Becca. _

Mike was in a taxi before he managed to text Harvey.

_ Becca wanted to be picked up early, so I’m going to check her out. I don’t know what is going on, but she says she’s okay. _

No response before he got to the school, so Harvey was probably in a meeting. Or had forgotten to turn his phone off silent after a meeting.

Everyone was very nice to him at the school. They knew their situation, and would probably let Becca go home pretty easily if she wanted.

An administrator met Mike at the front door, and led him quietly through the halls. Harvey could have made it on his own, but they cared about things like this.

“She just started crying in science lab. Her friends were very concerned. She’s made friends already here, you know. She seems very happy here usually, her teachers say. We check in on all of our students, especially the new ones, and Becca is such a joy to have,” the woman rattled off. It was only the third day of school.

“Thank you for your attention, and for letting me come get her,” Mike said.

Becca seemed bright and happy as usual as she took Mike’s hand and led him out, waving at the counselor and administrator.

“I’ve got to tell your dad, okay?” Mike said gently when they were back in the car..

“As if you haven’t texted him a dozen times already,” Becca rolled her eyes. “Just be sure to say that I’m okay, and can go to school tomorrow and everything, okay? He doesn’t need to freak out. I’m fine,” she said.

She buckled herself into the middle seat instead of the other side, and slumped against Mike. Mike wrapped his arm around her easily, texting one handed.

_ Hey, Becca is okay, but she cried at school today and wanted to come home early. I’ve got her now, taking her home. _

Mike didn’t get a response for another probably forty minutes after the text, by which time they were already on the couch reading _ Wonder - _ because it was great.

Mike kept saying the words as he read Harvey’s message discreetly.

**I had my phone on silent. Shit. I’m coming home. Is she doing any better?**

“Make sure dad knows he doesn’t have to come home,” Becca said.

“He wants to come anyway, because he loves you,” Mike told her. As he texted out a brief response so Harvey wouldn’t worry. _ Yeah, better. _

Becca sighed, “Yeah, I know. That’s _ good _. It was... a good day, you know? I sat with a bunch of people at lunch. Rebecca and Lauren especially,” she said. He knew there was another Rebecca in her class, who fortunately went by her full name. And Lauren was another new girl that year. “Science lab was really cool. I held a snake. And- then I- wanted to tell Mom about it, because she’s really afraid of snakes, and then I started crying,” she whispered. “I talked to the counselor a little bit, and she’s nice, but I wanted to come home. Thanks for getting me. And reading to me, and stuff,” she said.

“Any time.”

Becca was asleep in Mike’s arms by the time Harvey got home.

“I’ll make dinner tonight,” the other man said, walking to the kitchen. He kept looking over while he worked.

Harvey knelt in front of them when he must have been done cooking. They’d been totally silent. Harvey had made macaroni and meatballs, one of Becca’s favorites, and quick and easy with the microwave macaroni and frozen meatballs that Becca liked. He’d shed his jacket, and tie, and unbuttoned the top two buttons and rolled up his sleeves. Mike definitely shouldn’t have noticed how hot he was.

“Okay to- wake her up?” Harvey whispered.

Mike nodded. The man didn’t need Mike’s permission. But Becca would have trouble sleeping at night if she napped for long.

“Hey, Becca?” Harvey said. “I made macaroni and meatballs. Do you want some now?” he asked.

“What time is it?” she groaned.

“Ah… four ten,” Harvey answered after checking.

“_ Dinner _ at four ten?” Becca asked. “And _ you _ cooked it?” she clarified.

Harvey smiled, “It’s not exactly gourmet cooking. I didn’t eat out _ every _ meal before we had Mike cooking. And once upon a time I was a broke college student and law student and had my fair share of box mac and cheese- though it was on the stove then. I had my phone on silent, or I would have been here earlier. I’m going to try to make it so that messages from you and Mike always come through. And you can always call the office and Donna will get me.”

“_Dad_, I didn’t need you to rush home from work,” Becca protested. “I’m fine.”

“You don’t have to be fine. No one is fine all the time.”

“I know,” she said.

“I’m glad you texted Mike,” Harvey said, and he seemed sincere. Most parents would be jealous. If Harvey was, he was hiding it well.

They had four ten dinner and watched The Princess Bride, because it was a classic that Becca needed to see. And she was just about the same age as young Fred Savage at the time. Harvey had seen the movie in theaters, Mike a few years later, rented from Blockbuster Video. Harvey could quote bits almost as well as Mike.

*****Harvey*****

“So, Becca… indicated that you’ve been busy lately. She didn’t want to do her homework right when she got home, because she said that she’d be able to do it on her own while you were busy working tonight.”

“Am I a bad father?” he asked. Was that overly dramatic? Was he just seeking positive assurance he didn’t deserve? How many nights in a row had he brought work home?

“No, of course not,” Mike said easily. “You’re a great dad. You just have a demanding job. Anything I can do to help?”

“You could be my associate. I’d gladly fire Seth.”

“Still not a lawyer,” Mike had a teasing smile. “Though I did actually pass the bar exam.”

“I thought you didn’t take it?” Harvey asked, watching him. Harvey met a lot of people, but no one he’d met was anything like Mike Ross.

“Didn’t take it for the guy who was going to pay me. About a year later, someone bet me I couldn’t. Wasn’t even enough to cover the sitting fee, but I wanted to know, and it was an excuse. I _ had _ already studied for a couple weeks a year before, after all,” Mike smiled cockily. Harvey liked that side of him. Made him want to both push the other man down a notch and just revel in his mind.

“You cocky, unbelievable ass. You _ could _ go back to school, you know- or work as a consultant without it,” Harvey said. Which was probably insulting to Mike’s decision making, and also very against Harvey’s own interests. “Just ignore that,” he said. “I know you love you job- and you’re incredible at it. Honestly, I haven’t found anything you aren’t incredible at.”

“Being quiet. Hand-eye coordination. Singing. Accents. Fine arts.”

“You cook well. You act out book voices, impressions of actors. You dance- at least you were perfect teaching Becca swing.”

“I learn choreography easily. Also taught her a line dance I learned in middle school. Doesn’t mean I don’t look ridiculous doing that one. I can passably do both parts of most ballroom dances, but I prefer to be led,” he said, which did funny things to Harvey’s mind picturing that. “Is there any work I could do to make your life easier right now? Talk through a case with you? Dig through for obscure precedents?” Harvey was still slightly preoccupied picturing Mike dancing alone in a large room with polished wooden floors.

Five hours later, long after Becca had gone to bed and Mike was still there, Harvey could have kissed the man. It would still take hours more of work, but it was a brilliant plan of attack. And maybe Harvey could be free over the weekend for some more time with Becca.


	6. Man

*****Harvey*****

Harvey Reginald Specter had romantic feelings for a man, and it was rather difficult for him to accept.

He didn’t think homosexuality, or bisexuality, or any other kind of sexuality was wrong- it had just never applied to _ him_, and it really didn’t seem possible for it to start _ now_. He didn’t want to pick up an attractive man at a bar- but he didn’t want to pick up an attractive woman either. Of course he’d always been able to identify features he found... aesthetically pleasing in a man- that didn’t mean anything- anyone could do that if they didn’t stop themselves from thinking it. Or maybe he hadn’t really let himself think it.

His life was good. Better than it had ever been before. Pearson Specter. They’d finally gotten rid of Hardman. Took a few years longer than it should have. And now _ his _ name was on the door. And yet none of that seemed as important as it being an occasion to get Becca a new dress to celebrate. And he wanted Mike there. Really there, if he wanted to be… Which meant he needed to have another conversation first.

“I want to have a conversation that I’d really prefer to be drunk for, but I don’t want to be someone who has to get drunk to have a conversation,” Harvey told him days later.

“So- I usually find that wanting to be drunk is about getting leniency and deniability about what you’re saving. How about I just give that to you anyway?” Mike shrugged, but Harvey could see his nerves.

He was hot. _ So hot. _ Harvey would have said that a man should be tall and muscular to be attractive, but now he favored slim and ‘normal tall’ as Becca had once called both him and Mike.

Startlingly unique eyes, and… ears that didn’t look stupid. Many mens’ ears looked awful with short hair. And the poofy way his hair was longer on the top and always messy, with no product in it. And he _ always _ looked like he’d shaved two days ago, which meant he probably did a daily quick job with a really bad electric razor.

“I date women,” Harvey said. “If that wasn’t clear- I date- have only ever dated- women.”

“I expected that,” Mike answered, still nervous, probably.

“And by date- I mean almost exclusively have sex with someone I pick up at a bar and never see again. My longest term relationship was... exclusively dating for about a month, and before that we’d had sex whenever we faced each other in court every few years since law school. Becca’s mother- we became- maybe friends when she was a key witness on my case. I respected her. Totally messed it up when we had sex after the case was over. I usually had a condom in my wallet, but maybe I didn’t that night. Maybe she said she was on the pill and clean- I don’t honestly remember. I never saw her again. I’m a really good lawyer. Very good at my job. I’m a crap friend and a worse person to ‘date’.”

“You’re a great dad,” Mike put in. “And you’re not a crap friend. I’m not sure you could be after having Becca in your life.”

“You’re not a woman,” Harvey said. And watched Mike’s gorgeous blue eyes widen until he saw white all around the blue.

“No, I’m really not,” he said.

“And I’m your employer. But you’re not actually… that dependant on me,” Harvey reasoned. He’d thought it too often. “The agency would find you another placement, right?”

“I- don’t want a different job,” Mike said quietly.

Harvey covered his face in his hands. If he couldn’t be drunk, he could still hide for just a moment.

“But you’d be okay. I know you take other clients while Becca’s at school. You’re wonderful at your job, you’d be okay,” Harvey said. Harvey knew when Mike took other clients because he submitted fewer hours working for Harvey, even though Harvey had said multiple times that he didn’t need to. That Harvey didn’t mind paying him the same as a summer week, because even if he was with another client, he was on call.

“I _ sometimes _ take a shift when someone’s in a bind,” Mike said. “And theoretically, I would pick up more clients and- not be in financial hardship. But I really care about Becca. I’m sorry if I’ve… clearly I’ve… made you uncomfortable. I haven’t meant to, and I promise I’ll stop whatever it is. Harvey, I really value this job,” Mike said, and he was so damn earnest. Harvey was an ass.

“I’m not firing you,” Harvey said. “I- was trying to…” trying to badly explain it in some sort of order. “I depend on you. A lot. I- think I’d still be calling Becca ‘Rebecca’, and she’d have a boring off-white room, and I wouldn’t know how to talk to her, or deal with her being a- _ woman_. Really, I’ve never bought a feminine product in my life. I’ve avoided that entire aisle for years. I’ve hardly been to a _ grocery store _ in years. I lived off take-out, and had horrible blood pressure, and was probably going to die inside of two decades as the top lawyer in the state. And I would never make it through her first crush and boyfriend or- girlfriend- I think boyfriend, but who knows yet? God, I don’t even have any idea how to- deal with dating. I was saying- was trying to tell you that- I’m attracted to you,” Harvey said. And no one could call him a coward, because he said it looking straight into Mike’s beautiful eyes.

A flare of surprise followed be a smile.

“Oh?” he said.

“And I thought you should… know… and assess the situation. It’s come up that you- don’t date clients.”

“Actually, I refused to answer the question. I’ve also never had a single father client be interested in me before. It’s not exactly a common situation we find ourselves in,” he said, smiling widely. Predatorily. Confident Mike entirely focused on Harvey.

Harvey allowed himself to sit on the couch.

Mike sat, elegantly sideways next to him. He wasn’t tall enough to have legs that seemed that long.

“If you hadn’t already known, you surely would have guessed from my comments when I thought I was about to be fired that I _ am _ attracted to you as well,” he said. “I suppose _ you _ should decide if you want to act on it. I imagine it’s… quite a lot weighing on your mind. Have you been attracted to men before?”

“Never seriously. Passing thought that an actor was ‘hot.’ I’ve never even watched gay _ porn_,” Harvey admitted, head in his hands. “Well, never gay male porn.”

“Not really surprising. If we’re asking invasive questions.... ever had anal?” Mike asked.

Harvey bit his lip. Hadn’t he said no hiding? He looked at Mike. Gorgeous, smiling Mike. “No. I don’t think it’s something often done on a heterosexual one night stand- which encompasses most of my sexual activity.”

“And when was your last STI test?” Mike asked. “For purely background information completely irrelevant to tonight.”

“Recently. I’m clean,” Harvey said.

“How recently?” Mike asked.

“Three days ago,” Harvey admitted. “Got the results back today. And I haven’t had sex for… enough time that anything would have shown up.”

Mike’s lips were parted beautifully.

“How long have you been considering having this conversation?”

“I suppose- serious planning began four days ago. There was- attraction before, that was increasingly difficult to ignore.”

“Wow. You do not do things by halves. I suppose it’s fair to say that you’ve given this a lot of thought?”

“I have,” Harvey answered.

“Would it be okay if I sat closer?” Mike asked.

“Please do,” Harvey breathed.

Mike scooted about two feet forward, when he hadn’t been that far away. He was still sitting on the couch, technically, but his legs were lying across Harvey’s, and his arms winding around Harvey’s neck. Harvey turned to look. Mike’s mouth was maybe six inches away.

“What are you attracted to about me?” Mike asked.

“You’re- brilliant. I’m fascinated by your mind. You- are so easy to talk to. Your eyes- are gorgeous. And I’ve wanted to do this,” he said,” reaching out and letting his hand rest on Mike’s cheek. Short bristles. Harvey didn’t like the feeling on himself, so he stayed clean shaven. But Mike... “Want to feel it against my neck,” he said.

“That can be arranged,” Mike said, leaning into Harvey, resting his face there. Not quite kissing, but running his mouth and entire face into Harvey’s neck. Harvey wished he wasn’t still wearing his suit and tie. But it would seem very forward to take off even the tie now.

“You wear those tight jeans that I don’t know how you manage to bike across the city in,” Harvey complained. He could feel Mike’s smile. It was nice.

“Well, to give my half of the discussion, I- will have to get tested again to be sure. But I should be low risk. I’ve had three past sexual partners, all in long term exclusive relationships, at least exclusive as far as I know. And I got tested before the second and third. And I haven’t had any symptoms in the last- two years since we broke up. I’ve never had sex on a first date- or even the third. I’m a romantic sap who always wanted to bring a guy to meet his grandmother. I brought the first two- she hated the first but wanted to make sure I knew it wasn’t a judgment on me, and she would always love me. She died while I was dating the third guy- we shouldn’t have lasted as long as we did after that, because he wasn’t very understanding of my loss, but I didn’t want to be even more alone. Should have been a sign that I’d never wanted enough to bring him home to her.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t get to meet her,” Harvey whispered, eyes slightly damp. “I never valued family much before Becca. Really before you. I hadn’t even told my _ brother _ I had a kid before you talked to Becca’s grandmother. Now I care about Evelyn too, abrasive as she is. I- eventually called my mother. I want Becca to have everything. Which is why I’m even more scared than I would be otherwise about- fucking this up with you.”

“In case you hadn’t noticed, this honesty and leaway thing is going _ really _ well for you,” Mike said into Harvey’s neck, and rubbed his back.

“Yeah?” Harvey said, running hands through the longer mess of hair on the top of Mike’s head.

“Yeah, when the devastatingly handsome probably straight man that you’ve been trying desperately _ not _ to have romantic feelings for expresses interest- those things just _ don’t happen_.”

“I don’t know how to date with Becca in our lives, but I really want to,” Harvey admitted. “Can you suggest a sitter?”

“For special occasions, yeah. I’m counting this as our first date though.”

“Can I-” Harvey didn’t even know what he wanted to ask.

“Don’t push too fast, but with previous discussion in place, I’m going to go ahead and say yes to whatever you’re thinking.”

Harvey pulled Mike into his lap fully, and then just paused, looking. 

“Give me a sec,” Mike murmured, and knelt somehow, and then he was straddling Harvey’s hips, facing him. “Better,” he said softly.

Still not close enough. Harvey pulled him flush against him, face resting in Mike’s collarbone. He could feel Mike’s little chuckle, feel his erection against Harvey’s abdomen. Harvery folded his arms around Mike’s ass. Not really groping, just holding him there tightly.

“I _ really _ like this,” he said. And then he planted a gentle kiss on the bit of skin exposed by Mike’s v-neck t-shirt.

“That’s good. Good to be physically compatible. And we already enjoy each other’s company and work well together. You’re not going to decide in a week that you’d rather I be a buxom woman?” Mike asked, shifting against him. _ Grinding _ against Harvey’s own erection. Just from talking, thinking.

“No, I’m _ really _ not. A week? How many dates can we fit in by then? How likely are you to come to bed with me on the fourth one?” Harvey asked, no longer shy about it. Mike liked the attention.

“So _ legalistic_, Harvey. I’m more of a _ spirit of the law _ type of guy. But if we want to get quantitative… I think… this nice evening now. An evening with Becca after you or we tell her we’re seeing each other. An outing in public with some sort of show of affection- Becca can be there, holding my hand is enough, or a little kiss. And a promise of exclusivity. If you can give me those things, I won’t count the number of dates. But we use condoms or non-penetrative sex until my tests come back.”

“You realize I can do all of that and get Becca to bed by- eight pm tomorrow?”

“_Eager man_. Do you realize we haven’t even had our first kiss?” Mike teased.

“Technically, I kissed your neck already,” Harvey noted.

“Well, my mouth is much more responsive,” Mike said, holding Harvey’s face and looking into his eyes. “Hey there, handsome,” Mike greeted, and then kissed Harvey.

Kissing, Harvey could do. He was very good at kissing. And welcomed a kissing partner with initiative. Sucking on Mike’s full lower lip, and then his thinner top one.

“I may have a _ thing _ for stubble,” Harvey murmured after Mike pulled away slightly. Mike’s laugh was so sexy.

“That’s nice,” Mike said, and kissed him again, fingers slipping into Harvey’s hair that was full of product.

Mike pulled away laughing, “You put a _ lot _ of shit in your hair. More than it even looks like,” he said. “You realize people will suddenly think that it _ all makes sense_, the good grooming and care of clothes. They’ll think you were just closeted forever. As if caring about appearance makes anyone gay.”

“Metrosexual is a term I get often. And narcissistic ass. I’ll be just fine,” Harvey said, and initiated a kiss himself. “And maybe I was closeted in a few ways. Maybe I protected myself from- emotion and.... found sex where it was convenient.”

“Are you going to seduce the next hot guy you see on the street now?” Mike asked.

“Every bit of that sounds _ horrible_,” Harvey admitted.

“Why?” Mike asked.

Harvey tried to feel his way through an honest answer. “They would be _ boring_. And not fit perfectly in my life. Or make my daughter smile, and me laugh and- I have a very difficult time being vulnerable. I haven’t been in a situation where I was by far the least experienced person in any important aspect of my life for- maybe twenty years before meeting you. I want to talk about baseball, and cooking, and movies, and law, and- I don’t really care what- children’s literature, elephants, dinosaurs, anything I know nothing about. And I might overwhelm you with my goal-oriented planning, but I’ve always been that way. With baseball when I was young, and later with my law career. I can’t tell you how much I value you in every part of my life, but I- even trust that you’ll be gentle about it- whenever we… talk about further in the future than tomorrow.”

“I told you I’m a sap. I _ really _ want to hear about it,” Mike told him.

Harvey closed his eyes and thought thoughts that it wasn’t even like him to entertain, much less to say.

“I want to come home to you making dinner every night. I want to make breakfast for you in the morning. To wake up tangled in each others arms, even though I have a giant bed to avoid just that, and am not sure I could actually sleep with anyone touching me. I never have before, but I want to try. I want to have the awkward conversations of how long I keep paying the agency, and when you just move more and more of your stuff over, and then your lease runs out, and you just don’t renew it- or we could definitely break a lease, that would be easy. I’m a _ really _ good lawyer. And you never move out and you marry me and adopt Becca, and we live happily ever after with little squabbles and really great sex that we haven’t even had yet, and I’m probably not even imagining all the posibilities properly. But it will be good. And I would never, ever say _ anything _ like this to anyone. Don’t leave.”

Harvey opened his eyes when both of Mike’s hands were on his cheeks.

“So, you a little bit proposed,” Mike acknowledged with a grin.

“Perhaps a bit,” Harvey said. He couldn’t even be nervous with Mike smiling like that and sitting on his lap.

“I _ love _ that I asked you not to push too much, and you propose.” Harvey’s heart beat six times during the word ‘love’.

“You meant physically,” Harvey protested.

“I did. And I want to add another stipulation before I answer any _ not quite asked questions _ or come to your bed. Is that okay?” Mike asked.

“What is it?” Harvey asked. Though he could have just said yes.

“I want you to tell at least one person important in your life other than Becca about me. Can you do that?” Mike asked.

“Mike, I want to _ show you off_,” Harvey said easily. Mike made the sexiest whimper ever uttered, and was moving again in Harvey’s lap. So Harvey kept talking. “I want to brag. In- problematically possessive ways because you’re brilliant and handsome, and so good with Becca. And _ brilliant_. I want to take you to nice dinners, and have you wear some of my favorite suit coats that Rene alters to fit you perfectly, and you’d wear them over your t-shirts and dark skinny jeans. I want you to bring you to work with me- maybe for me- I told you, problematically possessive- but I also want you here with Becca when I’m not, and also when I am.”

“So, I _ really _ like this commitment and praise talk. _ Really _ like it. Like definitely a thing that needs to be revisited often, apparently,” Mike said, kissing him again. Harvey grabbed his ass, because why not? Mike groaned. Very different from the whimper, but also sexy. “I should probably get off your lap before I _ come _ with my clothes on- which I hardly believed was a thing,” Mike said, swinging his leg off and settling on the couch, not quite touching Harvey. Harvey might have… mewled. It was a pathetic sound.

“You’re wonderful too, you know. Clever, funny, hard-working, thoughtful, handsome. Definitely a keeper.”

“I really don’t know how this date’s supposed to go without sex,” Harvey admitted. Maybe it was a little complaint. “But I also don’t want you to leave.”

“Well, tomorrow I’m going to start bringing over spare clothes and not leaving with them.”

“Good.”

“Books, movies. Sure your place is big enough to fit all my crap?”

“I can’t imagine now how empty the place must have been before Becca was here,” Harvey whispered. “There’s still quite a bit of room.” Even though he and Becca weren’t awkward by themselves anymore, it felt more a home when Mike was there. “And if there’s not enough, we’ll get a new place,” he promised.

Mike kissed perfectly. Everything Harvey hadn’t known he’d always wanted.

  
  


Harvey took a sleeping pill or he’d never sleep, but woke up more refreshed than he expected, and to see Mike standing in his bedroom doorway. Mike had never used his key to let himself in when Harvey was home.

“Good morning,” Mike greeted.

“Hey, handsome,” Harvey greeted back.

“No regrets?” Mike asked.

“No regrets. Can I get a kiss in bed from my boyfriend?” Harvey asked.

“Of course,” Mike answered.

It was a really lovely kiss.

“Let’s tell Becca,” Harvey said easily. He loved Mike’s smile. He loved Mike. “I love you,” he added, because it was something he should say. He should have said it the day before. He had a little bit proposed.

“I know,” Mike answered with a straight face before cracking into a smile. “I love you too,” Mike said back.

Harvey frowned at him. “You made my declaration of love into a far over-quoted movie reference. I had better at least get to be Han Solo,” he said.

“My masculinity is not offended by being Leia Organa. She’s a badass.”

“You know her _ last name_,” Harvey groaned.

“I’m me. Of course I do. I could literally recite all six movies- even the ones I might objectively acknowledge are less good than some of the others- I like them anyway. And I have three pretty good voices. And I’m definitely going to The Force Awakens on opening night and intend to love it.”

“Star Trek is better,” Harvey grumbled.

Mike’s mouth dropped open beautifully.

“I disagree but perhaps admit that I have insufficient data. I’ve seen and enjoyed the reboot movies, a few classic episodes of the original- and a fair amount of Next Generation. I may have had a crush on Wesley Crusher.”

“Will Wheaton is my age- which means you would have been quite young when that show came out.”

“Reruns. I assume _ you _ didn’t fall for his charm, or you might have dated a man sooner.”

“I didn’t have strong feelings over him. I liked Data- though the last season is admittedly spotty.”

“Hmmm… Data. I think I need to show off my super brain more, don’t I?” Mike asked.

“You do. I wanted to be Kirk, but I admired Spock. I wanted to be… a lot like Riker, but hated him anyway for those same traits. For Deep Space Nine… underrated, by the way- Kira Nerys. And Voyager, definitely Seven of Nine. Enterprise, Archer.” He didn’t talk about ‘geek’ shows and movies with other people usually.

“I know… literally nothing about the last three except Seven of Nine is a hot part robot woman.”

“Never my type aesthetically. I liked her for her brain and compelling emotional struggles.”

“Sounds like I have a lot to catch up on. I wonder if we can get Becca interested.”

“I think she’ll be excited enough about us dating that she would agree to most any group activity.”

“Ah, which means you need to get out of bed, don’t you? What do you wear to sleep, Harvey?” Mike asked, looking at the comforter.

“Boxers and pajama pants,” Harvey admitted, throwing back the covers.

“I’m in no way disappointed,” Mike maintained.

“Make breakfast?” Harvey asked.

“Sure thing, Han,” Mike smiled.

When Harvey emerged dressed and ready, Mike was serving up scrambled eggs, and Becca was putting peanut butter on her toast (peanut butter toast with scrambled eggs sounded revolting, but Harvey wouldn’t say that).

“Becca, Mike and I are dating. Are you- would you like to discuss how you feel about that?” Harvey said, not quite as smoothly as he hoped.

Becca grinned. She studied Mike for a moment. “Mike’s wearing different clothes than yesterday, and not the spare clothes he keeps in his bag for nannying messes.”

Mike laughed and it was lovely.

“I would _ really _ like to pretend that you are far less worldly than you are,” Harvey admitted. “Mike and I haven’t reached that stage of our relationship yet, but we intend to. We thought you’d be okay with all of this, but still wanted to talk to you.”

“I promise I don’t mind if Mike stays over,” Becca smiled.

“And I’m still pretending you know nothing about what you were implying, and we can have an awkward conversation about it whenever you need- preferably in a couple years. Or better, Mike can have it with you.”

“Aaaaand, is that a conversation Mike will be having with me as my nanny, or as my dad?” Becca asked easily.

Harvey looked at Mike, who was just staring open mouthed at Becca.

“As your dad,” Harvey answered, which earned him a _ look _ from Mike.

“Good,” Becca answered easily. Just like that. “So… do I still have to go to school today?” she asked.

“People would miss you if you didn’t,” Mike pointed out. “And _ you’d _ miss them and your programming and public speaking classes.” It was a really good school. Mike had done well.

“Yeah, okay. And after school?” she asked. “I could get invited over to someone’s house if you want some time alone,” she offered.

“Nope, we’ll meet you at your school, and then go anywhere you want to go, have dinner anywhere you want, and if I could bribe you to be in bed by eight, I’d be willing to go to a pretty high cash value.”

Mike started a coughing fit over a laugh.

“I want a big, fancy make-up set. I promise I won’t wear it to school or out, just for sleepovers and practice. And- oh, also face masks and nail polish.”

Harvey looked at Mike, and realized Becca was too.

“Ah- why don’t you pick out a few things now, especially the face masks and nail polish, and start working on a Christmas list for later? I also know how to DIY masks, lip balms and sugar scrubs, and bath bombs- makes some good sleep overs or a full party.”

Harvey nodded. Mike could make compromises sound better than the original ideas. And makeup didn’t have to be scary and mature- it was like art for faces. They could have face paint near Halloween.

“I don’t _ actually _ need a bribe to be happy about you dating Mike- or for you to have time alone together, you know. I actually really _ want _ you to.”

“Really? You were so subtle, we never would have noticed,” Harvey said.

Becca stuck out her tongue at Harvey and gave Mike a hug.

“Thank you, Becca,” he said.

  
  


*****Harvey*****

“Why are we here, Harvey?” Louis asked. “This had better not be about the Jefferson case, because you said-”

“You are the three most important people in my work life- in my entire life before Becca.”

“Me?” Louis asked.

“Yes, Louis, I was surprised to realize it too. I’ve done a lot of soul searching in the last week. I definitely want you here. I really want to watch your face when I tell you this. I’ve met someone brilliant that I fit with well in many aspects of my life, and now we’re dating,” Harvey explained.

Donna was nodding and smiling.

Louis seemed annoyed.

Jessica was... “Is it the nanny?” she asked.

“Yes,” Harvey answered easily.

“Your big news is that you’re sleeping with your nanny? Isn’t that cliche?” Louis asked.

“We haven’t even had sex yet. In fact, telling at least one important person in my life was one of the conditions _ before sex_. _ I _ didn’t have sex on the first date. I _ always _ have sex on the first date. And then I usually don’t call, because I’m a non-committing asshole.”

Louis seemed more than skeptical. “Oh, yes. But this one is _ different_. And she wanted you to prove it was different by telling people in your lives about her.”

“He seemed worried that I wouldn’t be comfortable telling anyone, yes.”

“_ He? _” Louis asked, the perfect foil. Louis was always the perfect foil.

“Oh yes, my nanny is a man. He’s also a genius. I cannot emphasize enough how brilliant he is. Inhumanly perfect memory, quick thinking, layers of understanding. And attractive, endearing, so good with Becca. And I- indirectly referenced a future where I saw us married, and he didn’t run away.”

“You _ proposed _ on the first date?” Donna was startled for the first time now. She was wonderful, and so important to his life. And he really hoped wasn’t hurt by this because of their history- where they had sex once that then went back to being close friends. Who the hell compartmentalizes like they did?

“Mike said I ‘a little bit proposed’ and he wouldn’t answer any ‘not quite asked’ questions right now. And also, the date wasn’t anywhere extravagant. We talked and made out on my couch after Becca went to sleep. More talking and kissing, and talking, and eventually he went to his own apartment. I had to convince him to let me call a taxi, that it was too late to ride his damned bicycle that I’m worried will get him hit by a car and killed. That’s another thing- I worry about his safety all the time. I’m not a worrier.”

“Good,” Jessica said. “We should have dinner. I would like to meet him and your daughter.”

“I’m happy for you, Harvey,” Donna told him, and it was genuine.

“I want to meet him. We should go mudding.”

“_No_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And, I could go on, but it would, well, get spicier than I write, and they’re on their way to what I might even call a ‘happily ever after.’ After all, Harvey’s already a little bit proposed. I thought about ending it a scene or two earlier, but I wanted Louis’s reaction. Thank you so much for reading and supporting!


End file.
